The Fate of The Bad One
by Anubis-Shinigami
Summary: Sanosuke is knocked out during the Shishio fight and has one heck of a long reminision about his past. So what do you get when you combine the powers of two idiot friends in an organization? The revealing of Sano's past with the Sekihoutai of course!
1. Prologue: Reminiscing

Author's Note: Hello, Shinigami here!! This beginning fic starts out with Sanosuke – all of his thought are in _italics_. This is my first Rurouni Kenshin fanfic ever so please don't be too harsh on the reviews (but don't be too nice)!! ^_^ Thank you for taking the time to read this fic – please review!! I'll feel so much better if some one does!! Enjoy!!

Disclaimers: If I owned Rurouni Kenshin would you honestly think I would be writing fanfics? Actually I'd be writing scripts – but you get the idea. None of the Rurouni Kenshin products or characters belong to me, I'm just a fan. ^_^ 

Chapter 1: Reminiscing 

I felt myself being rammed into the brick wall. People aren't kidding – it really does hurt. Well I guess this isn't the first time I've done something stupid. Yeah, yeah I know – it isn't much of a surprise – I am Sanosuke Sagara after all. But for some reason – I just snapped. Watching a half-alive Kenshin fight Shishio is bad enough – but watching Shishio nearly blow Kenshin up? I couldn't take it. Then there was Saito. I can't say I have an extreme fondness for the guy – I mean he DID call me rooster head. But still, seeing him face off against Shishio and then get thrown to the ground as if he were a sack of potatoes– It made me mad. I do the same mistake over and over again – I attack without strategizing. That's probably why Shishio could block most of my punches – hey, I did get ONE though, right? I can feel myself blacking out…and you know what my first thoughts were? My memories of the Sekihoutai…

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"Oww! That hurt!" a kid with spiky brown hair said as he was smacked over the back with a cane.

"Well maybe I wouldn't hit you if you didn't slack off so much!" a fat man, dressed in rich robes said as he started to laugh.

"Someday I'll get you back!" the spiky haired kid yelled. The fat man stopped laughing.

"Why you ungrateful swine! We feed you and clothe you and this is what we get??!!" The man started to hit the kid hard with the cane. "Now go back to your chores you worthless slave!" The man made sure his words got to the kid as he kicked him forward. The kid fell, but nonetheless he still got up and tried to hold up as much pride as was left in him.

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Five days later the same kid was walking down the streets of Ugai – looking for something to steal for his dinner. After all, his "kind" uncle and his family, didn't exactly feed him – just overworked him. I mean – hey – it WAS free labor. So Sano's uncle took advantage of that. As Sano was trying to steal a rice-ball from a nearby food stall, someone noticed him.

"Thief!!" an old woman screeched pointing to the kid. That shout instantly attracted all of the nearby policemen.

"Aha! We finally found you, you little thief! We've been looking all over for you!! All of the customers in this block have been complaining about a certain little pickpocket that steals most of their food!!" said a scratchy-voiced policeman as he grabbed Sanosuke by the collar and held him suspended in the air.

Right about his time I remember thinking, "so go ahead and hit me – being canned is nothing new in my life." I still shut my eyes out of habit as I braced for the blow…but it never came…

"How much damage has he done?" asked a polite and calm voice from behind the policeman.

"Huh? Who the hell are you?" asked the scratchy-voiced policeman. As he turned around he came face-to-face with a young man, around the age of twenty. The young man had gleaming black hair with a tinge of purple with a little of his bangs blocking his right eye from view. He was also wearing a red bandana on his forehead and a long purple, black and beige trench coat. (A/N: Sound familiar? And no it's NOT Aoshi. ^_-) 

"If you release the boy I am willing to pay for all of the damage he has done – including you for your trouble."

"Hmm How much are you offering?" asked the policeman.

"I'll pay 70 yen for the stolen goods and 200 yen for all of your troubles." stated the stranger calmly.

The policeman all but choked in surprise at the high offering. He quickly looked at his police squad, which consisted of five members. The other policeman quickly widened their eyes and nodded for the commander to take the offer. "All right 70 yen for the goods and 200 yen for me and my men it is then!" the policeman said as he extended his hand and the stranger shook it. The stranger then dipped into his pockets and found his wallet, out of which he pulled out the amount and paid in full the officers and the owners what he owed.

"You have your money – now please release the boy." The stranger declared coolly.

"As you wish!" chuckled the policeman as he dropped Sanosuke, who landed on his butt, roughly onto the ground. The policeman continued laughing and dealing the money out as everyone else began to clear the scene. Within a few minutes everything had gone back to normal.

"What is your name, boy?" asked the stranger as he looked down at a shocked Sanosuke.

"Umm Sa-Sanosuke – but people call me Sano for short." Sano stammered.

"Well you should not be robbing people should you, Sano? Here, take this," the stranger said as he knelt in front of Sano and handed him the remainder of his wallet, "it contains 225 yen – which I believe should be plenty enough for all three meals at least for a month until you can find a job that pays." Said the stranger as he smiled at Sanosuke.

"Th-than you! F-for getting me out of the beating and the money and all…" Sanosuke tried to thank the stranger.

"You're very welcome – have a good day." said the stranger as he got up and went on his way. He quickly blended into the crowd as a still dazed Sano sat on the ground…

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When he got home, the first thing Sano did was hide the money in the removable stone slab in his "servant's campartment" – which measured four feet by six.  He slept on a bed of straw with a blanket that was actually a bunch of rags that the cook's daughter had kindly sewn together for him. 

San sighed. He could not remember how he had gotten to live in this hell hole. He did remember when. He had been here for three-and-a-half years -  since he was three.  He remembered it had something to do with his brother – but what and why would he be sent here? Sano shook his head and decided to leave these thoughts when he was allowed to think -  when it was time for him to sleep.  

He then went back to doing his "duties"  as if he were a mere hired servant – except that he did everything for _free_. He even had to scavenge for his own food and clothing  - though sometimes the cook's daughter would find him some hand-me-downs from her little brother. This was why his uncle called him a slave – and Sano didn't feel any better than one. 

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Later that night, somewhere around eleven (when Sano finally finished all his chores) he came into the barn to sneak some corn for his dinner. Suddenly he thought he heard a noise coming from the back of the barn – not far from him. Deciding to investigate, Sano crept to where he found the sound – stopping to stand still every now and then when the other person stopped. After a while of creeping around, Sano finally saw a shadow about 10 feet away from him. Not thinking and acting on impulse, Sano tackled the "thing" to the ground. 

"Owww Hey! Get off me!!" The thing (err…boy) yelled.

"What are you doing in here?! Who are you?!" Sano yelled as he clenched and unclenched his fists. The boy quietly got up and looked at Sano. The kid looked about Sano's age, he had shinning black hair that was neatly parted in the middle, which created and illusion of two large bangs. His hair was about shoulder length with a green bandana on his forehead. (A/N: Guess who this cutie is? It's NOT Aoshi either!! You people out there who saw the RK episodes about the Sekihoutai will probably know who this is!! Sano's best friend!!) Deciding it best to run – the kid tried to escape by going back where he came from.

"Oh no you don't!" Sano yelled as he dashed at the boy and tackled him to the ground – again. "just tell me your name and what you want!!" By now Sano held the boy's hands flat to the ground and was sitting on top of hi stomach. 

The boy sighed in defeat and replied, "My name is Katsu and…I was on a mission, ok? There, happy?!" The boy replied irritably.

"Yeah, actually I am. You were on a mission?! What kind of mission?" Sano asked inquisitively.

Katsu hesitated a little before whispering quietly, "I work for the Sekihoutai…it was my job to see if the coast was clear." Katsu answered.

"Sekihoutai? What are the Sekihoutai?? What coast? There's no ocean around here!" Sano stated back.

"You idiot! Seeing if the 'coast is clear' is a figurative part of speech! It **means **to see if there was anyone around to see me. Are you really THAT stupid?!" Katsu yelled.

"Figu-what?! Hey! Stop using big words around me!! How do I know you're not swearing at me in some ancient language or something?!!" Sano yelled back.

"You really ARE and idiot AREN'T you?! 'Figurative' is an ENGLISH word!! And it means not the literally meaning!! And literal means the actual meaning of the word itself!!"

"I KNOW what LITERAL means!!"

"Well, you're so stupid who know WHAT you know!!" both boys growled at each other after they finished their verbal spar.

"Can you get OFF me now?! I told you what you wanted to know!"  Katsu stated.

"Fine." Sano said right after he jumped off Katsu and stood up.

"Well it was nice meeting you, " Katsu said sarcastically right before he added, "IDIOT!" and then, before Sanosuke could tackle him again, Katsu sped off.

"Whatever you stupid turd!!" Sano yelled back not even knowing if that was in Katsu's hearing range.

Heh Yeah I remember that day like it was yesterday…And you know what's funny? The names stuck – from then on I was the idiot while Katsu was the turd…

Annoying kid! Who does HE think he is anyway?!," Sanosuke complained to no one in particular. 'Wait – I forgot to ask why he was clearing the coast!! Damn! I should have pounded him to the ground!!! Grr I hate having a goldfish memory!!" Sano shouted irritably.  (A/N: Heheh I have a goldfish memory – so I feel your pain, Sano!! ^_^)

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"Stupid idiot! He even forgot to ask about why I was clearing the coast in the first place!! Now I can tell the Captain that all is ready for the take-over!" Katsu said to himself as he sprinted back to camp.

OK that was my **first **RK – what do you think? Should I continue or should I quit while I'm ahead? Go on – PRESS THE LITTLE REVIEW BUTTON (you know you want to)!! ^_^


	2. Easier To Run

Author's Note: Hello, Shinigami here!! Wow, I haven't reviewed in over a month – time really does fly, doesn't it?? Anyway hope you enjoy the second chapter. Ok, the are still in _italics_. 

**IMPORTANT NOTE!!** I changed and rewrote chapter one a little and changed the plot which will make sense in other chapters – so if you haven't read it after **October 12**, I suggest you re-read it or the later plot might not make sense. Thank you! ^_^

**Disclaimers:** What would the world do without Linkin Park – huh? Oh, right – I DON'T OWN RUROUNI KENSHIN! ^_^

Chapter 2: Easier To Run

"The coast is clear! Everything's ready!" Katsu told one of the officers of the Sekihoutai as he desperately tried to catch his breath after running.

"Is it now? That's excellent news! I'll go tell the Captain!" said the Sekihoutai officer as he started to turn around. The officer turned back a little. "Oh, and get ready to attack, Katsu." The officer then continued on his way to inform the Captain.

"Yes, sir!" Katsu said ecstatically as he sped off to the direction of the weapons. 

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"What the---!" Sano exclaimed aloud as he ran out of the servant's quarters. "Someone's trying to blow up the city!" Sano yelled to no one in particular as he continued to watch the fires that were quickly spreading about Ugai. What Sano didn't notice was that the fires were planned – and that they were only destroying certain people's houses. 

Sano quickly started to run to the main complex of the enormous grounds that his uncle had gotten after he received money from an unknown source.  It took him about a minute but he finally got to the main quarters – which were really private rooms for entertaining guests and such. (AN: They're sort of like living rooms.) When he got there, he put his back against a corner wall as he leaned to the side in order to try to try see and hear the different voices he didn't recognize.

"…Look Mr.Takenaka, it's quite simple. The new Imperial government feels that it is necessary to get rid of the traitors who opposed the Meji era in the war. Therefore, my superiors have ordered me to give you two choices: 1- You can surrender to us and we'll take you to jail and MAYBE allow you to live. Or 2 – We kill you right now and take over your property any way. Either way you lose. So which is better? To live or to die?"

With that the officers looked quite smug as Mr. Takenaka continued to fidget.

"Uncle…" Sano whispered as he realized that his uncle was in one hell of a spot. 

"Is there no other choice that you can give me?" Mr. Takenaka said desperately – keeping in mind the profits that he had gained would be lost. Even if the profits weren't made by "honest means" – it was still an extremely great loss. 

"Unfortunately, no. But you can take your request to the Imperial government and they might change your conditions a little." Said the officers as  Mr. Takenaka  continued to ponder his unlucky situation. Mr. Takenaka started as if he just noticed something.

"Wait – why are those other houses being blown up? The people who own those houses and the land around it are respectable people…"

"Respectable, yes. But loyal to the government? No. Many of those houses are of  former samurai and they didn't want to go down without a fight. So they ended up fighting against our men and in return, not only did they lose their property, but they also lost their lives. 

"May I go outside to think this over?" Mr. Takenaka asked. The officer was a little startled since he had not expected this sort of request.

"Well…I guess so…" The officer said uncertainly. Mr. Takenaka then shuffled toward where Sano was watching. Sensing the approaching danger, Sano quickly sped away outside. There, he quickly hid in a rice basket. He then heard the muffled voices of his Uncle and other people that lived around the house.

"…I say we attack the Sekihoutai before they attack us!" said a male voice.

"Yes, but how could it work? We are outnumbered and-" a woman's voice started.

"And we have explosives in the barn. We can use those to kill most of the soldiers and then we can use our swords to get rid of the rest of them." said another male voice.

"Sounds like a good idea! Get the explosives! But make sure to get rid of the kid first – he might cause trouble and disrupt our plans!" that voice was definitely one Sano recognized – his uncle's. Sano slightly trembled from fear as he felt the people go by his rice basket. 

He stayed there for a few minutes until he heard a staccato of  bomb explosions – which sounded as if they were quite close to him. At this, Sano quickly got out of the bag and started to run. His goal was to get to the low wall at the bottom of the garden in order to escape the massacre. After all, it was easier to run from danger than to suffer through it. Unfortunately, Sano's half-baked escape plan was stopped.

"Hey kid!" Sano heard someone yell. This only made Sano run faster. Unfortunately, Sano was no match for the speed of a Sekihoutai officer. Soon enough the officer had caught up to his and Sano felt himself being grabbed from behind by his shirt.

"I'm taking you straight to Captain Sagara!" The officer told Sano as he went off into Capt. Sagara's direction. 

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"Oww!" Sano said aloud as he was dumped on his butt for the second time that day. He landed directly in front of Captain Sagara. Sano slowly looked up.

"Umm…hi?" Sano said uncertainly. Captain Sagara slightly raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"It's you Sano. What connection do you have with the people of this house?" Capt. Sagara asked politely.

"W-well, the guy you call Mr. Takenaka is my uncle and I-I don't know who the rest are. They've just kinda been here all my life." Sano stuttered as answered Capt. Sagara. 

" I see…"

"W-what are you going to do with them?" Sano quietly asked.

"Unfortunately, your uncle has committed high crimes against the Imperial government. Along with those charges, he has also attacked the Sekihoutai – a private military force of the Imperial government. He will be punished." Capt. Sagara answered calmly.

"C-could you please not k-kill them?" Sano asked. Even though Sano hated his uncle, he was one of the only kin that Sano knew existed. Captain Sagara looked at Sano for a minute – as if pondering his answer. 

"I'll see what I can do. But as for you – how would you like to join the Sekihoutai?"

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"I can't believe you let him join the Sekihoutai!" said Takei – one of the highest officers of the Sekihoutai. 

"He needs to live somewhere. Besides, I think it's about time Katsu got a friend more close to his age – don't you think?" Captain Sagara asked the officer as he continued to watch Katsu and Sanosuke walk around the camp.

"If you say so – you're the Captain." Said Takei as he walked off, realizing that there was no point in trying to change Capt. Sagara's mind. Once Capt. Sagara had his mind set on something – it was utterly impossible to change it. 

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"The weapons are always kept in that tent and food is given on specific hours only, so if you're really hungry, you'll have to hunt. And if you want to hunt you must ask permission first. Are you even listening?!" Katsu irritably asked Sano, who was busy eyeing the food.

"Hey, idiot! I'm talking to you!"

"Huh? What?" Sano asked innocently.

"Did you even listen to half the things I said?!" Katsu angrily asked Sano.

"No…I think you lost me once you said the word 'food'." Sano said as he grinned and rubbed the back of his head. (AN: Another one of my traits…having the attention span of a gnat. Sano and I have much in common. ^_^;;)

"Hey, Katsu. I think a vein is getting ready to pop out of your forehead." Sano said as he poked Katsu in the forehead.

"Shut UP you idiot!" Katsu yelled at Sano as he knocked his hand away from his forehead and walked toward the direction of his sleeping bag. (AN: And no this isn't one of those high-tech foot warmer sleeping bags…)

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"Tomorrow, we leave for Kyoto so I suggest that you get some sleep." Katsu told Sano. Unfortunately for Katsu and Sano, there was only one sleeping bag so they had to share it. That notion wasn't welcome by either of them. 

"Uhh…right. Why are we going to Kyoto again?" Sano asked Katsu for the fifth time again.

"I already told you, you idiotic goldfish! We need to get a telegram for our next mission!" Katsu growled as he turned from Sano.

"Geez! You're so grumpy!" Sano told Katsu as he turned away from him. Sano was answered with a **hard** kick to his shin.

Well that's chapter two – what do you think? YAY I UPDATED! Sorry for the EXTREMELY late update of what **looks at calendar** a month?! Wowie – time goes by fast. I didn't really have time to write this chapter since I was busy finishing up my other fic! It's finished now by the way! Hope you can read it – especially if you happen to like GW! ^_~

**Thank you to my reviewers.**


	3. Meeting New People

Author's Note: I'm back! See?! I updated pretty fast – compared to last time anyway. 

**IMPORTANT NOTE!!** I changed and rewrote chapter one a little and changed the plot which will make sense in other chapters – so if you haven't read it after **October 12**, I suggest you re-read it or the later plot might not make sense. Thank you! ^_^

**Disclaimers:** Blah blah blah I don't own Rurouni Kenshin – what's the point of even putting disclaimers?? That's why this site is called FANFICTION.net, right?

Chapter 3: Meeting New People 

Poke

Poke

SMACK!

"Oww, Katsu! That hurt!" Sano yelped in pain as he rubbed his aching head.

"Well, I wouldn't have hit you so hard if you had woken up when I had asked you to! Hurry up and get dressed – you'll make us miss breakfast! Which WE have to get by the way!" Kastu snarled at Sano as he got up to go to the weapon storage tent.

"Why is he so grumpy all the time?! It's not like he's an old man!" Sano stated as he got up – still rubbing his throbbing head.

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"SANO! You scared all the fish away!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know you were 'fishing.' You were just standing in the water with your spear raised, looking like a statue!"

"Great! Thanks to you, this will take a lot longer than it usually takes me! And how stupid do you have to be to just jump in the water when all the fish were swimming toward me?!" Katsu yelled at Sano as he stood in the water with arms akimbo.

"I just wanted to catch them faster!" Sano said as he pouted. Katsu frowned and growled at Sano as he continued to try to spear what was left of the fish. It took Katsu two hours, but eventually most of the fish were came back and Katsu speared three of them. After placing them in a basket, Sano and Katsu then carried the rest of the fish back to camp. 

"Captain! We brought enough food for everyone!" Katsu yelled happily as he ran into the camp. Sano at the meantime was still struggling with the other fish who was trying to get away.

"It took you longer than usual, Katsu." The Captain stated – not angry, but quite surprised. 

"Well, that IDIOT decided to scare all the fish away, so I had to wait almost two hours for them to come back before I could even spear one of them!" Katsu told the Captain as he continued to glare at Sano.

"Hey! Don't blame me! I've never been fishing! Besides, you didn't tell me what you were doing just standing there!" Sano retorted.

"Yeah, well – "

"Boys, that quite enough. Why don't you go skin it and begin to fry it while I go gather the men?" Captain Sagara more commanded than asked.

"Sure, Captain!" Katsu and Sano replied simultaneously. 

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"So…umm…where are we going, again?" Sano quietly asked Katsu, being careful to keep the quiestion in a whisper as he and Katsu walked behind most of the members of the Sekihoutai. Katsu sighed before replying in a whisper.

"We're going to Kyoto!"

"Why? What's in Kyoto?" Sano asked curiously.

"Ok, look. Captain Sagara gets his order from the Imperial army right? Well he has to get those orders in order to carry them out. That's why he travels to big cities like Kyoto so that he can get a telegram." Katsu explained to the inquisitive Sano. 

"Umm Katsu?"

"Yeah?"

"What's a telegram?"

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            Around the same time that Katsu finished explaining what a telegram is, (among other high tech things at that time,) they had already arrived in Kyoto. Katsu and Sano stood where all the rest of the Sekihoutai stopped and they waited as Captain Sagara and other high officers started to discuss something.

"Hey Katsu," whispered Sano. "What do we do now?"

"We wait until the Captain finished discussing whatever he's discussing, then he'll come to us and tell us what to do." Shortly after Katsu said this, the other officers saluted to Captain Sagara and went off to take care of their duties.  Capt. Sagara then approached the eagerly awaiting Sano and Katsu.

"Sano? Katsu? I would like you both to take a tour around Kyoto and find suitable places where the Sekihoutai can eat and stay the night. I will give you each a wallet of money that you both can spend any way you like." Capt. Sagara said as he handed then wallets – which were obviously made of expensive silk, probably imported from China. 

"Wow! We'll make sure to find the best places for the Sekihoutai!" Katsu said ecstatically. 

"Very good. Then be on your way." The Captain told the boys. Sano and Katsu didn't have to be told twice, they immediately sped off in exploration of the enormous city of Kyoto.

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            Indeed, Katsu was right. Kyoto IS a beautiful city, Sano thought as he walked around its ancient streets. The beautiful sky, the nice air – and the fact that Sano was lost. He could have sworn he knew that around the corner of the building was where he had left Katsu. What Sano didn't realize was that he had passed that corner at least five times.

//Maybe I should have been listening to Katsu. . . // Sano thought as he continued to walk around. He remembered Katsu saying something about going into a store and getting something, but thanks to his short attention span, he didn't remember Katsu telling him not to wander off. Let alone follow a man selling food. Sano couldn't help it. He followed the merchant and his cart for at least an hour before he could catch up with him and eat some of the produce – what were they called? Something about chicken, a chichen in teriyaki, maybe? 

//Great. Now I'm lost in a city where I've never been and I have no idea where I'm going to go. Katsu will probably get a kick out of this. . . // Sano continued to think, while he was looking at the Sakura trees. Yet again, thanks to him lack of concentration, he bumped into something – or someone. 

"Oh . . . oopps! Sorry about bumping into you!" Sano said as he was jilted out of his thoughts and he looked up at the stranger. The stranger had long red hair in a ponytail and he was wearing a purple and red kimono. He looked no older than sixteen, yet he possessed a double bladed sword strapped to his side. His eyes were also orbs of a nice tint of blue. But his most distinctive feature was the scar on his face. He had an x-shaped scar that ran on his left cheek. . . 

I don't know if Kenshin remembers me back then. I never asked. But I still remember the way he looked down on me. His eyes were not as wide as they were when I met him a second time. His eyes were quite small – must like Saito's, except not as narrow. They did not hold the emotion of kindness as he does now. They were cold, barren, and yet cloudy. As if he were trying to hold some kind of pain inside . . . 

"You would do well to get our of my way, that you will." The stranger replied simply as Sano backed up a step to the side. As the stranger was going to leave, Sano decided to be bold.

"Umm . . . Excuse me? But what's your name? Mine is Sano." Sano asked the stranger boldly.The stranger did not reply but merely halted in his walking. His back to Sano. After what seemed like hours, the stranger looked over his shoulder at Sano and answered him.

"My name used to be Shinta, but now I am known as Kenshin Himura." With that said, the named "Kenshin Himura" continued to go on his way. (A/N: And YES Kenshin's real name WAS Shinta.)

"Nice to meet you! I hope I meet you again!" Sano yelled. Kenshin stopped walking, as if pondering what to answer, before he continued on his way without another word. 

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//Nope. Too fat. Too ugly. Not dressed with a green bandana. Wait – that's him! Oh, wait, no that's a girl. Katu's not a girl . . . at least I think so . . . // Sano thought as continued to survey the people of Kyoto from atop the big hill that happened to conveniently look over the main street of Kyoto. Unfortunately, about 94% of the people living in Japan had black hair – so Sano didn't exactly have an easy job of locating Katsu. Now if Katsu had orange hair, that would be a different story . . . 

//Wait! That's him! I found him!// Sano thought ecstatically as he quickly ran from his hill, down the enormous steps and into the big street. Unfortunately, the people were like a two-way giant wave that continued on forever and ever. It was Katsu who finally got to Sano.

"Sano! Where have you been? I've practically searched all over Kyoto for you!" Katsu said as he suddenly appeared by Sano's side.

"Katsu! Well It was kind of hard finding you again considering that most of the people of Japan have black hair!" Sano answered Katsu. Just as Sano was ready for an enormous battle of wills, Katsu gave up before the fight even started. 

"Ok, let's just start looking for a hotel for the Sekihoutai to stay at."

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"Sorry, we're booked."

"Do you have a reservation? You don't? Well this hotel is only for reservations."

"Are you sure you two aren't lost? Where's your mother, little ones?"

"I said – GO AWAY YOU STUPID BRATS! We're full!"

Every time Katsu and Sano entered a hotel and asked for rooms, they always got almost the same replies.

" I think that all of Kyoto is booked!" Sano said as he slumped on a bench. His feet were sore and he felt like he had just run a marathon. 

"We can't give up, the Captain's counting on us!" Katsu said as he slumped on the bench as well. Sano started to look around.

"Hey! How about that place!" Sano said as he ecstatically pointed at a building. Katsu turned around.

"Hmm . .  .That looks like a good place. The Aoiya . . ."

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"Do you really think those brats will be able to find us a DECENT room for the night?" Takei asked Captain Sagara. Captain Sagara chuckled.

"First you don't like Sano, and now you are beginning to dislike Katsu, too?" 

"It's not that, I just think that they're more trouble then they're worth . . . " Takei answered back. Captain Sagara chuckled again. Somehow, he knew that Takei really didn't feel that way . . . 

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"Well of course you and your Sekihoutai can stay here! We'd be glad to have you!" the woman named Okon answered with and enormous smile. (A/N: For those who don't know – AOSHI lives at the Aoiya. And yes he's still here. He left when he was sixteen. If Aoshi is two years younger then Kenshin, and Kenshin is sixteen then Aoshi is . . . you do the math.)

"Thank you!" Sano answered happily. "Hey Katsu – Katsu? Where'd he go?" Sano asked no one in particular as he started to walk around the Aoiya. Sure enough he found Katsu playing with some little girl. The little girl seemed very attached to Katsu.

"Oooo! Katsu has as GIRLFRIEND!" Sano yelled over to Katsu, who glared back.

"Do NOT!"

"Do TOO!"

"She's just a little girl!"

"She seems to like you a lot!" Sano told Katsu. "What's her name anyway?"

"Her name is Misao and she lives here at the Aoiya."

"Oh, cool." Sano said. "Anyway, I think we should be getting back to the Captain, it's getting pretty dark. 

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

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The Sekihoutai happily went to the Aoiya after their tiresome day in Kyoto. Even Takei seemed happy – well, as happy as the grouch of the Sekihoutai got. Katsu and Sano decided to play with outside with a ball. Unfotunetly, the little four-year old, Misao, decided that she wanted to play too – on Katsu's side. And sadly, she and Katsu were kicking Sano's ass. Sano was sorely loosing at their soccer game.

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"Do we have everything we need?" 

"All the operations are complete." A little timid man in a fancy kimono told his master.

"Excellent, then we shall commence with the orders. Get ready." Said a more sinister-looking man who was dresses, as if ready to kill.

"Of course."

And the plot unfolds! A little cliff hanger there! Well, for all of those patient souls who waited – here's the third chapter! I shall TRY to finish the fourth one and put it up! This story is going to get a more serious tone to it as it continues – so I hope people *cough* unique-starfish *cough* will not think that its "cute" anymore.

**Thank you to all my reviewers.**


	4. Explosions of Scarlet

**Author's Note:** Bah! I'm so impatient that I'm just going to post this chapter up right now! Even though I only got – what two reviews for the last chapter? Anyway, I hope more people like and review my story! I also have this planned out for another five chapters! Yay for me!!

**Disclaimers:** Sano and all the other hot characters of Rurouni Kenshin (Kenshin, Aoshi, Saito, and Katsu) ALL BELONG TO ME!!! You people just don't see . . . Cuz I'm in too deep, and I'm trying to keep all the fun in my head – instead of going under aggggainnnn!! (Sum41 song!!) ^_^

Chapter 4: Explosions of Scarlet

//What's that smell? Is it. . . _sulfur_?!// Captain Sagara suddenly stiffened. Takei took notice of

that. Captain Sagara usually never stiffened unless some explicit danger was looming around the corner. 

"Is there something wrong, Captain?" Takei asked inquisitively.

"Yes, get the Sekihoutai ready for a battle; we're about to be attacked.

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            Katsu was ready to checkmate Sano just as he heard a noise. It was small, yet distinctive. It sounded like a spark, the one Katsu usually lighted on a cannon when he was in battle. 

"Sano, watch out!" without a second thought Katsu sprang forward at Sano, knocking him to the floor just in time as wood splinters and huge block of wood went everywhere, one enormous chunk going right past where Sano would have been.

"Katsu! What's going on?!" Sano asked, scared, yet relieved that he was alive at the same time.

"We were attacked by outsiders! My guess is that they planted the bomb in here before we came in here!" Katsu told Sano as much as he knew, or guessed before running upstairs.

"Hey, Katsu! Wait!" Sano yelled at Katsu before quickly getting on his feet and following Katsu upstairs. The rest of the Sekihoutai were already prepared and quickly grabbed their weapons and dashed outside in order to follow the intruder ad get some answers.

" . . . the fourth and fifth squadron, take the north! The third and sixth squadron take the west! The seventh and eighth squadron, take the south! The second and first squadron will come with me and take the east! Split and take your positions!" Captain Sagara ordered the Sekihoutai with quick, planned precision. 

            Sano heard all of this and it became the second thing to ask Katsu about when he FOUND him. Wherever Katsu was, he sure got there quick enough. Sano finally found Katsu, in the room they shared.

"Katsu! Hey, Katsu! Why'd you run up here so quick?!" Sano irritably asked Katsu. Katsu answered as he was trying to put some sort of weapon together.

"I ran up here because of Captain orders!" He answered as he continued to mix some kind of powder before putting it into the machine.

"But he didn't give you any!" Sano protested, totally confused by now. Katsu sighed and turned around to face Sano.

"They're UNDERSTOOD orders! Captain says that whenever we are in unpredicted danger we should go to find our weapons and protect ourselves if needed! If we can then we should come out and help the Sekihoutai fight our new unknown enemy!" Katsu answered quickly before going back to search for something else. Sano stood there, the information sinking in. Sano suddenly started as if he just remembered something important. 

"Then why was he shouting something about squadrons and telling them which direction to go?" Sano asked Katsu. Katsu continued to reply as he still searched frantically for something.

"Same concept – he assigns certain members squadrons and then when we are attacked unexpectedly he is able to organize them faster! – AHA!" Katsu yelled triumphantly.

"Huh? 'AHA'- what?" Sano asked as Katsu held up something wrapped in some kind of cloth. Katsu unwrapped it to reveal a rifle-looking gun.

"Here, you take this and use it to defend yourself." Katsu said as he handed Sano his weapons while at the same time taking his 'weapon.'

"Katsu, I don't even know how to use this!" Sano said as he stared at the gun in his hands.

"Simple, aim and pull the trigger, reload and continue the cycle all over again. Now come on!" Katsu said as he grabbed Sano's arm and started to pull him down the stairs – towards the direction of the battle.

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Captain Sagara continued to run as if his life depended on the catching up to the culprits. In the society of the Sekihoutai, you not only needed to be skillful with a weapon and understand military strategy, but you also had to be able to run – fast. The Sekihoutai stopped as the culprits suddenly went out of sight.

"He disappeared around the corner – there!" yelled Jimie-ko as he pointed ahead. 

"You heard him – let's go!" Captain Sagara yelled as the rest of the Sekihoutai members followed quickly. The culprits finally came back into view.

"Half battle formation!" Captain Sagara yelled as the Sekihoutai members started to arrange themselves. Two members became the wings, which means that they went on opposite sides of each other and covered as much ground from the center point, which was Captain Sagara, as they could. One member trailed behind Captain Sagara The other three members quickly found a way to climb up on the building and ran towards the edge of it – the point was to get inform of the enemy and then corner him.

"If you surrender and give up now, we don't need to go through this!" Captain Sagara yelled at the culprits. The culprits suddenly stopped, not because they had any intention of surrendering, but because they were cornered. Now that Captain Sagara was close enough to them, he finally saw what they looked like in the light.

All of three of them were wearing the traditional kimono, except one donned a kimono that far exceeded the rest of the members – he was obviously the leader. The other two looked quite scruffy in their appearance, with wild black and unkempt hair both in ponytails. Ugly scars adorned both of their faces and they appeared hideous in the beautiful moonlight. The leader, on the other hand, could have been mistaken for an aristocrat. His clothes were much like those worn by nobility and he looked very well kept and his hair looked beautiful and shiny in contrast to his lackeys.

"We have nothing to discuss. Our plans have failed, however we have no intention of surrendering and will find a way to kill you." The leader said as one of his hands went behind his back.

"Tell us what were your intentions and why you have the desire to get rid of us, the Sekihoutai." Captain Sagara asked the ringleader. The leader grinned.

" Like I said – we have NOTHING to discuss!" The leader and his lackeys then tossed bombs in the direction of the Sekihoutai members. 

"Watch out!" Captain Sagara yelled as he knocked Takei out of the way of the bomb, which exploded near the Captain's right arm. Takei watched in horror as his leader's arm was torn away by the force of the bomb, flesh and blood being blown in pieces ending with white bone being shown. The culprits ran and escaped as the rest of the Sekihoutai members lay on the floor.

"Takei, go after them. Take them down." The Captain told Takei as he clutched his right arm in pain. Caught between the injury of his Captain and his orders, Takei stood where he was.

"But – But Captain!" 

"Go, now! Before he gets away! Take vengeance for your fallen comrades!" Captain Sagara told Takei as he looked him straight in the eye. Takei nodded once and ran off in the direction of the evil-doers as Captain Sagara stayed with the rest of his fallen members. They were nothing but corpses surrounded in an endless pool of uncontrollable scarlet. . . 

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            Rage burned inside of Takei as he chased after the enemy which once more destroyed more people he cared about. He finally caught up to the two lackeys – whom he slew effortlessly. He then proceeded to chase after the leader. He finally caught up with him and had him pinned against the wall of a building and Takei held his sword one inch from the enemy's throat.

"WHY did you do that?! What fucking demon caused you to kill so many people?! Why do you hate us?!" Takei hissed into the enemy's face. 

"Simple, I was ordered."

" By WHOM?!"

"Mr. Takenaka, of course." The foe answered with a devilish grin.

Hehe. Well that's the fourth chapter – another cliff hanger there for you! ^_^ Hope you don't kill me too much! I'm updating!! Yay! Good for me!!

**Thank you to all my reviewers.**


	5. Two Silhouettes

**Author's Note:** And the plot goes on and one!! (from a  Sum41 song)

**Disclaimers:** Rurouni Kenshin doesn't belong to me and all of you educated people should know that!! Huh?! Huh?! HUH?!

Chapter 5: Two Silhouettes 

"WHAT?! Your saying Mr. Takenaka, that brat's uncle, ordered YOU to?! How do I know that you're not lying?!" Takei practically yelled the question into the man's face.

"You don't." The man said simply before he committed seppuku. Takei snorted in disgust – the man had chosen to commit suicide rather than fight against his enemy. A coward's way out of a tough time. Takei carelessly threw the body to the side and continued to wander around in order find Captain Sagara.

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//OK . . . umm what did he say? Ok pull trigger, aim and then shoot? Or was it aim, pull trigger and THEN shoot?! Guns are so STUPID! How does Katsu know how to use these things?!// Sano's thoughts were a jumble as continued to frantically try to use his gun against his enemies – which greatly outnumbered them. As Katsu's new saying went, Sano never needed to find trouble – trouble always found him.

            Sano had managed to get lost . . . again. While Katsu was already eons ahead of him and already using his rifle to kill off anyone that was an enemy – Sano was still trying to figure out just HOW his gun-thing, or whatever it was called, worked. At the same time, Sano couldn't figure out how the other Sekihoutai members had gotten back in time in order to help Katsu and Sano defend themselves. The funny thing was, that the people in the Aoiya were also helping to defend it – they called themselves the . . .the . . . Sano couldn't remember. 

It was a simple plan really – Katsu explained it to me later. The three original men who bombed the Aoiya were supposed to run away and then later corner and kill Captain Sagara. They believed that by eliminating the leader of the Sekihoutai, the rest of the Sekihoutai would become weak and vulnerable. Then the mob that was waiting outside, the one Katsu, me, and most of the returned Sekihoutai were fighting, would kill the leaderless Sekihoutai. It didn't work out according to their plan . . . 

// . . . then I just pull here and - // Sano's thoughts were cut off as he aimed the gun and shot it, instantly hitting one of the enemy. 

"Yeah! I'm getting the hang of this! I knew it wasn't so hard!" Sano shouted in triumph. His triumph was short-lived. The next thing he knew was that he had landed on the ground, hard. He felt himself slowly slipping into unconsciousness, black waves were starting to enfold him . . . 

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"Sano!" Katsu shouted in terror as he watched his ally and new friend drop to the ground as if he were dead. Katsu quickly tried to fight off the person he was trying to kill so that he could get to Sano quicker. Katsu eventually succeeded, though he still got an enormous gash on his shoulder for rushing the fight and making an error.

"Sano! Come on Sano wake up, please!" Katsu yelled as he held Sano's limp body upright by the shoulders. Sano's eyes flickered open for a brief moment before closing again.

"Sano! Hold on . . . 

Hold on . . .I still remember hearing these words before I became unaware of what was happening to me. They were my tiniest glimmer of hope – I truly thought that I would die that day. Perhaps the same thing is happening to me now? Are the wounds from Shishio's blow that deep? Am I really going to die? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            The sun was shining again as it bore its way into the sky. As if it were being born again. Sano slowly opened his eyes. He was alive. His eyes widened in shock. He tried to move but his arms and legs both felt like heavy lead. Sano then realized that he could still move his head from side to side and so he did. The room was pleasant and not clustery – there was furniture, of course, but it was scarce. Other than a bed on the floor and a table counter with flowers on it, it had nothing else.  A perfect room for meditating. 

As Sano looked toward the door, he saw a shadowy figure stand in it. Sano's nerves tightened a little. It was the same man he had seen walking around the Aoiya on certain occasions. He was always watching, something, anything. He looked a little like Captain Sagara if you thought about it. His hair was the same black pearly color – except Captain Sagara's was short and his was long. They were about the same height and they were both fighters. They were also leaders of their own groups. The clothes were kind of similar – both of them preferred to wear trench coats. Except the eyes – Captain Sagara's eyes and his differed. Captain Sagara's eyes contained compassion, this man's eyes held contempt, as if he had gone thought something terrible. To tell the truth, this man scared Sano – what was his name? I believe they had called him 'Aoshi' on certain occasions. After looking at Sano for some time, Aoshi finally spoke.

"You were heavily injured, it would do you well if you were to say in bed and not move at all." Sano involuntarily shivered, this man was nothing like Captain Sagara. His voice was the ice that cut through the steel. They man regarded Sano with a cold judging air before heading on his way. Sano released a breath he did not know he was holding.

"Sano! You're awake! 'bout time!" Katsu said happily as he bounced into Sano's room, his face showing his happiness. Sano smiled at seeing the familiar and reassuring face.

"Hey, Katsu. What happened?" Sano asked.

"You . . . were shot and you fell down. The wounds are pretty deep and may leave a scar, but the doctor says that it isn't anything lethal.

"W-wounds?!" Sano asked, startled.

"Yes wounds. You were shot three times." Katsu answered sadly slowly looking at the floor.

"So . . . umm what has happened since that time, how long has it been?" Sano asked, determined to stop Katsu from looking so depressed. 

"Well, you've been asleep for over a week and the rest of the Sekihoutai are also recuperating. Except . . ."

"Except what Katsu?"

"Except we lost six of our members. The five that went with Captain Sagara were brutally killed by the enemy. The other one was killed near the Aoiya. Shot. Just like you." Katsu said. Now Sano understood: Katsu blames himself for the other member's death because he couldn't be there to help them. He would have probably blamed himself for Sano's death if he had died.

The funny thing is, that Katsu is STILL like that. Not much has changed. He still blames himself for most of my wounds. Even though he usually never talks about it, you can see it on his face if you knew how to read him right. 

"So . . . how long has it been? When can I get up?" Sano asked quickly, determined to change the mood.

"It's been seven days. The doctor says that you can get up in three more. I'll go get you something to eat, you must be starving by now." Katsu said with a bit of a smile.

"Sure, thanks, Katsu."

"No problem."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Now that he could actually MOVE his legs, Sano had enjoyed running races against Katsu the whole morning. 

"I still think we should have told him," Takei said simply as he watched Sano and Katsu run around outside.

"No, we shouldn't have. Sano doesn't need to know unless its death-threatening that it was his uncle's lackeys that attacked us. I think he should focus more on recuperating." Captain Sagara said simply. Takei snorted. Sometimes Captain Sagara was just so stubborn. He reminded him of a certain little brat. On the other hand, Takei was similar to Katsu – both blamed themselves for the deaths of others even though sometimes even if the could, they would have never been able to prevent them.

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"Ok, Sano. THIS time stay close to me so that you won't get lost, ok?" Katsu irritably asked Sano, who was busy teasing a little kitten.

"SANO!" Katsu yelled at his idiotic-friend.

"Huh? What? Ok, ok I WAS listening you know. I'll won't get lost." Sano said as he rolled his eyes and continued teasing the kitten with a string of yarn – until it scratched his hand and took the yarn.

"Oww! Stupid kitten! It scratched me!" Sano said as he held his injured hand protectively. Katsu rolled his eyes.

"That's what you get for teasing it, baka. Now come on we have an errand to run." Katsu said as he started to walk off. Sano followed Katsu, still holding his hand, and glaring back at the kitten occasionally.

"So, what exactly do we need again?" Sano asked Katsu once he had caught up to him. Katsu resisted the urge to smack Sano for being so stupid. Katsu decided to make Sano mad and so he kept silent.

"Well?"

Silence.

"KATSU?!" Sano was running out of patience by now.

More silence.

"Hey?! Do you have celery in your ears or something?! Katsu!" Sano finally lost it and instead started to get in Katsu's way. Even though Katsu tried to doge, Sano kept stubbornly getting in front of him.

"Ok, ok, down Bessie-cow. I'll tell you." Katsu said as he laughed at how red-faced Sano had become.

"Captain Sagara asked us to go see if the shipments are in. So we are going to the docks." Katsu said as he tried to suppress a laugh.

"Thanks. And I am NOT a cow!"

"MOO!" Katsu said as he burst out laughing. Sano started to run.

"Hey, come on, I was only kidding! Sano! Wait up!" Katsu called out. He started to run after Sano.

"Sano, wait! Come on Sano it was a joke! I didn't mean it! I – " Katsu was cut off as he bumped into the same thing Sano had apparently bumped into. Both of them fell very unceremoniously on their butts. Katsu rubbed his head as he and Sano looked up.

"Ahh, well if it ain't a pair of young ladies!" A tall and very muscular-looking man said as he looked down on them. 

"How would ye like to join our ship?" the sailor asked.

"Umm sorry we're part of the Sekihoutai." Katsu and Sano said simultaneously.

"I'm afraid you boys don't have a choice." Said another man who looked more like an aristocrat than a sailor – by the neatly pressed outfit he was wearing. He wore pants and vest and a trench coat over his pants and vest.

The next thing Katsu and Sano knew, they were in a black world of pain known as unconsciousness.

There's another chapter, and another cliffhanger!! Hehe ^_^ 

**Thank you to all my Reviewers.**


	6. Murky Water and a Clear Decision

**Author's Note:** I'm back – after a week of not updating. But hey – I was tired ok? I had b-ball games and an amount of homework you couldn't possibly imagine. Anyway, now that it's Thanksgiving break, I expect to get many chapters up and finish this fic. ^_^

**Disclaimers:** I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, that I do not. ^_^x

Chapter 6: Murky Water and a Clear Decision 

            It seemed hours until Sano and Katsu had finally woken up. Katsu rubbed his head as he sat up and looked around. As soon as he stood up, he fell down again – overcome by motion sickness.

// . . . wait – motion sickness? That means . . .oh no!// Katsu frantically looked around for a window, a door – anything that could tell him whether they were docked on land or already sailing on the sea. He finally found a small hole and he looked through it. He saw nothing but blue. The sea is blue. They were no longer on land. Katsu slumped against the wall as his body slid to the ground. 

//How am I suppose to explain this to the Captain? I don't even know _where_ we are, let alone _how_ to get off this ship. . . // Katsu was lost in his trailing thoughts until he saw something stir by the corner of his eye. Sano sat up and groaned while rubbing his head.

"Oww . . . Katsu?! Where are we?! Are we moving?" Sano asked as he look at Katsu. Katsu shook his head.

"I don't know where we are, but we're moving all right. Probably as far away from the docks as this ship can take us." Katsu answered Sano. Sano looked up and started to get lost in what little thoughts he had. Katsu started to beat on the walls – but not the angry beat.

"Umm Katsu? What are you doing?" 

"Trying to see if there is a hidden door somewhere – what does it look like?" Katsu answered irritably, as if expecting the rooster-head to know.

"Oh. Can I help?" Sano asked.

"Yeah, right. If I can't find it what makes you think you will? You always mess things up!" Katsu answered with a bit of humor.

"That's not true Katsu!" Sano angrily retorted.

"What about the time you got lost or were in a battle without knowing how to use a 

gun . . . "   

"Yeah, but . . ."

" . . . and the time you went chasing after a chicken, whom you thought was the enemy?"

"That was diff – "

" . . . and the time you forgot where our camp was and accidentally ran into the enemy's camp and set off their alarm . . . "

"Katsu, that's not fair, you have all these embarrassing stories about me! You won't even let me say anything about you!" Sano pouted.

"Ok, fair enough. Now you get to say an embarrassing story." Katsu told Sano, with a little smirk of amusement.

"Ok there was that time you . . . you . . ."

"Uh-huh . . ."

" . . . and then you . . ."

"And I . . .? "

"Aha! There was that time you ran out of the bathhouse naked because the water was too hot and then you streaked across the camp and dove into the nearest lake!! What was worse was that on the bank of that river was a girl you liked and she saw you naked and you had to streak back to camp to get your clothes!" Sano smirked as he finished and sat down with a proud air – as if he had insulted Katsu in the ultimate way.

            Instead of hearing the expected angry outburst from Katsu or being angrily tackled to the ground – Sano heard Katsu laugh.

"What?! What's so funny?!" Sano demanded as he swiftly stood up.

"Sano . . ."

"Yeah?"

"That wasn't me – that was you." With that said Katsu broke into an enormous fit of laughter. Sano pouted and walked to the very opposite end of the room.

"Fine! Laugh if you want! I'll just go to this corner! It'll keep me better company than you will!" Sano said as he tried to sit on the floor. But when he did, the floor gave way and Sano fell through. After about 10 seconds a loud thump was hear. Probably the fifth time Sano had landed unceremoniously on his butt. 

"Katsu, I think I found the secret door!" Sano yelled from below.

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"That no good, rotten little fucker . . . I knew he was nothing but trouble from the start!" Takei muttered to himself as he continued to search for Katsu and especially Sano. He happened to pass by some sailormen and overheard their conversation . . .

" . . . so I 'earded the cap'n took off wif 'em youngens!" Said one sailor as he was loading cargo.

"Aye, they cou' be used for somethin' if anythin' at all. 'e was paid a good shillin's worth o' money to kidnap 'em aboard the floatin' palace."

// . . . the floating palace? That's the nickname of that ship, the Jigoku, isn't it?// Takei thought to himself as he stopped by a vendor and pretended to look at the merchandise while staying in range and hearing the conversation. 

            The Jigoku was a ship that was disguised as a luxury liner, and it looked so in appearance, but the truth was that it was merely a well disguised pirate ship. In all honesty, the ship was made so in order that the normal citizens of Japan, as well as tourists wouldn't panic. Another useful advantage was the ability of docking in any port, getting supplies and robbing some places, and then going back inside the ship, an ocean liner, which no one could ever suspect to be the cause of the chaos. (A/N: "Jigoku" means "Hell" in Japanese. An appropriate name for a ship that causes so much damage.)

            "Aye, he said somethin' 'bout a pricey on the lad's head. Coulnta undestand it well since they were some fancy gen'lm'n on board who was speakin' some weird language. All I 'eard was that the lad and the lass were to die . . ."

//Lad? He must mean Sano. Because of his long hair, the lass is probably Katsu since he can pass as a girl. That means . . .I better tell the Captain.// Takei quickly made his way from the docks and into the center of the city.

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"Well, well, what have we here? The two new troublemakers onboard, I presume?" asked an extremely wealthly-looking man. He was wearing a white top hat complete with a white tuxedo – it would have been the perfect Victorian outfit had it been black. 

"Who are you?" Sano asked as he and Katsu both looked at the stranger, oblivious to the sounds in the background.

"Your worst nightmare." The stranger replied as both Katsu and Sano felt a blow dealt to the back of their heads.

Sano awoke first, this time. The setting red sun didn't exactly help him fall asleep. Sano squirmed around a bit, hoping to get some more sleep when he suddenly jerked awake. Sano quickly opened his eyes and looked around. He tried to stand up but he found that he couldn't since he was tied to the main mast of the ship. He looked to his side and saw that Katsu was in the exact position as himself. There was also a bunch of sailors gathered around them – as if they were expecting something.

"Ahh, well it looks like the youngen 'inally decided to wake up!" an extremely happy, and may I add, fat sailor commented. Sano tried to get out of the ropes as Katsu stirred awake. The sailors continued to laugh at Katsu and Sano's helplessness. 

"Let us go!" Sano yelled at them.

"Sure laddy! But we haveta kill ya first!" answered another sailor as they all broke into a fit of laughter.

Suddenly, one of the sailors stopped laughing. He looked around him cautiously and then stared at the sky.

"Blimey! The 'urricane's a comin'!" He yelled as he pointed at the sky, which was rapidly changing from being a beautiful red to a murky black. All the sailors looked up and in a moment they were gone. Working the riggings and tying down the sails – doing anything in the moment of danger.  Katsu and Sano remained stuck to the pole as a storm continued to rage on.

"Hey, Katsu! What are we gonna do?! We can't get out of these ropes – how will we get to safety?!" Sano asked frantically.

"I don't know! Why don't you figure it out? You're the one who found the secret door!" Katsu replied.

"Look, Katsu, this isn't the time to be mad at me – "

"I'm not mad, I'm just saying. Besides, I can't think of anything!" Katsu yelled back. The storm continued to range and the winds started to blow full-force – knocking some men into the water. With all the commotion no one noticed a lone man slipping off the side of the ship – taking the lifeboat.

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"What? Takei, are you sure this information is accurate?" Captain Sagara asked calmly.

"Yes, Captain. The two boys are aboard the Jigoku – no questions." Takei answered. It was amazing how calm a façade the Captain could keep in moments of distress. Almost as if he didn't care about Katsu and Sano. But Takei knew him better.

"Tell the men to move out."

"Do you plan to go after them, sir?" Takei asked inquisitively.

"I plan to meet them at their destination. I think this time around we'll need to rely on an old friend." Captain Sagara said as he smiled and walked out of the Aoiya, leaving a very confused Takei behind.

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"KATSU!!" Sano yelled as he helplessly watched his friend slam against the side of the ship and then ricochet off the side and into the water. Fortunately for both Sano and Katsu, an axe had been hurled on the other side of the mast – instantly cutting the ropes. Sano and Katsu were able to get out of the tangle, but as soon as they did, Katsu's light body weight easily made him a target of the wind.

            Sano half ran and half flown to the side of the ship, thanks to the wind's aid. He looked down into the murky blue water, pondering for a split second what he was going to do. He didn't even establish half a thought before he dived into the water after Katsu in an attempt to rescue him. After all, Sano thought he had a better chance at finding Katsu and pulling them to safety since he was always the better swimmer between himself and Katsu.

            After it seemed as if he had swum everywhere, Sano finally found Katsu at a protruding rounded under ocean mountain. Grabbing Katsu around the waist with one arm, Sano made an enormous effort to swim to the top. Sano's breath was slowly escaping and he felt the waves of darkness surrounding him again. This made him fight even more to get to the top. Unfortunately, even this grand effort was in vain. For before Sano reached the top, he had passed out and was slowly sinking down again.

MUWAHAHA! I know – I am an evil author. I love making cliff hangers for my fics – though I really don't like when really good authors make cliffhangers for their fics. Anyway, did I think this chapter was good? I'll let you tell me that. 

**My gratitude for the following reviewers:**

**Lily: **My fic is getting good?! Yay, that really makes me happy as a writer! But I have some twists and turns coming up – so watch out!! I am indeed an evil author – I pride myself in that!! As long as I write this fic – it shall have cliffhangers!! ^_~  Don't hate me too much.

**Lana:** Oi!! Como vai você? Translating my fic into Portuguese? Go ahead! I don't mind! I'm happy you love my story – it's gonna be pretty long!! GW is "Gundam Wing" for short. It's another Anime show I used to be (and still am) really obsessed with. It more sci-fi futuristic though – very different from Rurouni Kenshin! You can just type it in www.google.com and you'll probably find lots of pages on it. Até mais!!!^_^****

**Unique-Starfish:** Yup, I definitely know why you loved this chapter!! A whole paragraph on Aoshi – I bet you were ecstatic! Thanks for reviewing, Angi-Chan! Ja ne!****

**Eeevee:** Yup, little Sano couldn't fire a gun right if his life depended on it – and who doesn't love to tease kittens? What? You don't think it was a cliffhanger? Oh well, that's your opinion. Thanks for reviewing.

**MissBehavin:** The baka didn't shoot himself. . . yet. Poor wolfy – bumping off his wife? Probably the only person that loves him? That's very sad . . .I'm a multi-tasking author so it might be a week (+) before my next update comes around.

**RGrurounigirl: **YAY!! Someone else who loves my story!! I'm very touched! Errm I TRY to update – but sometimes thing just don't go into your head, ya? Woah, I better stop playing FFX and write something!! Have you ever played that game? It's pretty good!! Thanks again!****


	7. The Past Revealed

**Author's Note:** Here's another chapter to my "saga." I'm trying to get these posted as fast as I can so that I can work on the other fics I have planned.

**Disclaimers:** I do not own Rurouni Kenshin, but I do own all the donuts in the world. 

Chapter 7: The Past Revealed  

_I don't remember _when_ I woke up, thought I do remember _how_. It was the stench. It was the smell of rain – not the nice kind in the spring, but the rotting, decaying kind that makes you want to wish that you never experienced rain. . . _

            Sano rolled over to his side, trying to hide himself from the smell. It was then that he realized that he had not drowned – and he was _alive_. Sano quickly tried to sit up, but his stuffy head weighed him back down again. He tried to sit up again, except this time more slowly. As soon as his eyes could focus in the dim light, he started to look around. He was in a small ancient hut it looked like – the walls seemed to be made out of clay since he could see many leaks coming in because of the rain. For a hut made of clay, it was very warm since there was a fire opposite him.

            Sano continued looking around him. The hut was sparsely furnished, probably a maximum of one person lived here. He and Katsu were both lying in a bed of straw and rags with some blankets covering them. Katsu started to stir awake.

"Hey, Katsu. Did you have a nice sleep?" Sano asked as he looked over at his sleep-deprived friend. Katsu groaned a little as he tried to get up and found that he couldn't. He, like Sano, learnt the hard way of sitting up with a clogged head.

"I . . . think so – wait? Weren't we in water? I mean I was drowning  and then . . .and then . . ."

"And then I dove in after, tried to save you, but ended up drowning myself. . . " Sano said before he even rethought his words. Katsu looked at Sano for a minute.

"You . . .dove in after me?" Katsu asked, a tad bit surprised. Before Sano could answer, they were interrupted.

"Ahh I see you boys have awaken? How does it feel to be among the living? Pretty good, eh?" a figure emerged from another room, from a door made of another blanket. He was an old man, complete with a black hair that had all turned gray. He walked with a slight shuffle, showing that all his agility was lost in his youth. Sano and Katsu just stared at him for a while.

"Who . . . who are you?" Katsu asked inquisitively.

"Me? I am old retired fisherman by the name of Genki Shikuze." The old man replied happily. (A/N: "Genki" in Japanese means "happy, healthy, and energetic," yet again another pun.)

"What happened? Why are we here?" Sano prodded the old man for answers. 

"I rescued yer when I say you fall off the ship and into the water." He answered as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Katsu gasped.

"Then, you were the person that snuck off the ship during the hurrican and took the lifeboat weren't you!" Katsu asked.

"Hai, I was."

"And you also threw the axe at the ropes to set us free!" Katsu asked, finally putting all the pieces together."

"Hai, again."

"Who are you? Why did you help us?" the old man nodded.

"I will answer all your questions – including the ones you didn't know you have. But first, you must eat. I'm sure you're very hungry." As if on queue, both Sano and Katsu's stomachs rumbled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

//Blast this rain . . .all because of those - // Takei's thought were instantly cut of by the enormous streak of thunder that raced across the sky. As if it, too, was running away from something. 

"Takei, I suggest you come back inside the Aoiya, there's no point in staying out here and getting sick. The train leaves tomorrow morning." Said a very young member of the Sekihoutai.

"Thanks Shiro, I'll keep that in mind. I'll be in there in a minute – would you mind asking the hosts if they can have my tea ready? Thanks."

"No problem." with that, Shiro disappeared inside again. As he walked back inside, he noticed that the Captain was gone as well. Shiro sighed.

//You just can't keep 'em down can you? They just need to do something – none of them ever relax like the rest of us.// Shiro though as he looked toward the temple; he noticed a figure clad in a trench coat. Shiro sighed again.

//I suppose I'm going to have to take tea to him too. This is going to be a long night, going back and forth.//

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~*~ Flashback ~*~

            A young boy ran through Kyoto as fast as he could, having a presentiment that something bad was going to happen. He bumped into strangers on the way. He was carrying some groceries on his way back home. He would have been home faster if it not had been for the rain. He quickly entered his living complex – which was huge, of course, with his father being a head honcho of most of the samurai squads. As he entered he quickly hid behind a corner of the building, overhearing the conversation between his father and another officer.

". . .Unfortunately,  Lieutenant-Captain Sagara, the Japanese government is very strict. Since you have indeed killed a man of a higher rank than yours and did not allow a higher ranking samurai to kill him instead, you must face the consequences."

"Does it really matter who killed what rank of the enemy? We defeated the enemy, right? If I had waited before a higher ranking samurai got to where I was then I and my whole squad would have been wiped out by the sheer power of their higher ranks. What does it matter who killed the general?" Lieutenant-Captain Sagara said with fury. The officer sighed his contempt for the stubborn man.

"Understand that these are not my orders – they're the orders of the government. And as a citizen I carry them out and you must bend to them." The soldiers said with stone.

"I will do not such thing! If you wish to kill me then you will have to take me by force!" shouted Lieutenant-Captain Sagara as he drew out his double-edged katana.

"Very well," the officer said as he blew a whistle. As soon as he did, numerous other soldiers emerged from the walls of the complex and in a circle around Lieutenant-Captain Sagara.

"Finish him." The officer said calmly.

"FATHER! NO!!!"  yelled Kumikawa Sagara as he ran from his hiding place, only to witness the death of his father as he was riddled with bullets and fell to the ground, a bloody mess. It was then that the soldiers finally noticed him.

"Kill him as well, he is the last one living." The main soldiers shouted orders to he rest of them. Kumikawa dropped everything he was holding and started to run for his life. It was only as he was running did he notice the dead bodies of his mother, and both his elder brother and younger sister. . . 

~*~ End Flashback ~*~

            Captain Sagara stared at the rain and did another rare emotion – he scowled. He watched as the hated raindrops fell and splattered on the floor and the temple walls.

//I never liked the rain. I feared it as a child and now I loathe of because of _that_ day. It's just my luck that the train was canceled and Sanosuke and Katsuhiro are stuck in this rotten weather in the middle of nowhere - // Captain Sagara's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Captain, sir? I brought your dinner for you." Shiro acknowledged his captain as he stood there with the tray of food. Captain Sagara's scowl was instantly gone and replaced by a smile as he heard a known voice of one of his comrades. He turned around to face Shiro.

"Thank you, Shiro. I appreciate it very much" Captain Sagara said with his usual kind smile as he took the tray from Shiro's hands.

"Of course! Call me if you need anything else!" and with that Shiro ran off towards the Aoiya again. Captain Sagara put his food tray in front of the statue of Buddha before continuing to look out the stone windows of the temple.

//. . . I wonder . . .will I ever find Sanosuke and Katsuhiro or will it turn out the same way it did with my father . . . ?//

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"OOOWWWW!!" Sano said as he held his arm protectively and started blowing on it. "What is that stuff –acid?!" Genki sighed.

"For the last time it's 'peroxide' and it's for your minor wounds!!! Now hold still while I apply the rest of it to your other cuts and scrapes!"

"Nu-uh! You're not getting anywhere near me with that stuff!"

"Katsu obliged!"

"Yeah, well . . .fine!" Sano said as he inched his way back towards the old man. Katsu DID oblige – when the old man tied to him to a chair and THEN put the peroxide on him. For the next half hour of screaming, the old man finally finished treating both the boy's wounds.

"Well, now! Now that we're finished with that mess – you can eat dessert!" The old man replied happily. Katsu stared at his dessert and thought if the pain was worth it. Apparently, Sano though it was, he dove right in and gobbled up his.

"Hey, Katsu – you gonna eat that?" Sano said with a mouthful of cake. Katsu moved his plate from Sano.

"Of course, you idiot!" Then, with new found speed, Katsu ate all of his dessert as well. 

"Are you boys finished? Good. Now come sit by the fire and let me tell you a story."

"Umm Aren't we a little old for stories?" Sano asked.

"Not that kind of story! Now come over here!" the old man said impatiently as he sat down on a chair near the fireplace. Katsu and Sano shrugged at each other before going over there and sitting on the skin rug in front of the old man.

"You're probably wondering who I am. Well about seven years ago, I was one of the senpai, the upperclassmen and I served a lord by the name of Taihito and a lady by the name of Sakura – "

"Who were they?" Sano interrupted.

"Who were they? Why, they were one of the most rich and quite powerful of the shoguns! Well, back when there was no Imperial government and the sorts . . . Anyway, where was I? Oh yes.. They had two sons – Seth, the elder, and Taihito Jr, the younger. 

Unlike the Europeans, we did not automatically give all the inheritance to the oldest son. Back then, families would go consult an astrologer that would tell them which one of the sons would be the best to receive everything that father would give them. Now, Seth was seventeen years old and plenty enough to settle down and have a family like his father. The youngest was only born then – "

"I'm cold," Sano stated.

"Here, you can put this blanket on, "Katsu said as he shared some of his blanket with Sano.

"Thanks, Katsu!" Sano said as he took half of Katsu's blanket.

"AHEM!" the old man coughed. "Anyway, their father was very old and he was dying so he needed to know which son he would write in his will. He and the lady went to consult the astrologer. The results were not what Seth wanted to hear – his younger brother was the chosen one. That night, Seth snuck out of the house with the family's sword and disappeared.

That very same night, the Imperialists chose to attack the complex. Everyone was killed. Fortunately for me, the lord had sent me on vacation so I didn't hear of the news until I returned. Afterwards, I went and built this place here."

"What happened to Seth and the little boy?" Sano asked inquisitively.

"I'm not quite sure, but I have heard that the older brother, Seth, eventually got most of the family inheritance since after the Imperial government took over, his father's will wasn't valid anymore. There was also talk of some uncle that shared in Seth's earnings as well. As for the younger . . ."

"Well?!" Sano asked, all patience lost.

"The younger one is still alive."

"Where is he?" asked Katsu.

"He's in this room." The old man answered as Sano and Katsu looked at each other.

"Taihito Jr., is you . . .Sano."

*Big wide grin* Don't you just love cliffhangers? ^_^ (Dun, dun, DUN!!) Oh yeah, and all the Japanese words like Genki, Senpai, and Jigoku are all real and valid Japanese words.  Ja ne!

**Thankfulness to the following reviewers:**

**Unique-Starfish: **I know I AM evil, aren't I? Oh, well, thatz a plus for being an author! And yes I did eat MOST for the turkey for Thanksgiving, thank you.

**Lily:** Happy late thanksgiving to you!! Yay, I'm really glad I have a fan!! I AM and evil author and can be the most evilest person you'll ever know. ^_^ After all, I AM Shinigami, am I not?

**MissBehavin:** Muwahaha Now you know who's behind Katsu and Sano's kidnapping? Weren't you surprised? Isn't it getting very interesting? I hope so. Captain Sagara shall avenge the boys' kidnapping, don't you were. But maybe not in a way you think . . . (dun, dun, DUN, dun, dun.)

**Natie Eny: **YAYAYAAY!! Another fan!! This is my happy day indeed!! ^_^_^_^_^ I hope you liked this chappie, too.****


	8. Rejuvenation

**Author's Note:** I have returned. I think this fic is going very well – a little long however. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you. ^_^

**Disclaimers:** *Takes out her Chinese pendant necklace and starts swinging it back and forth* I own Rurouni Kenshin. YOU believe I own Rurouni Kenshin.

Chapter 8: Rejuvenation 

            It was raining extremely heavily when Captain Sagara decided to tell his troops to load up. That very night, the troops said goodbye to the people of the Aoiya and left for the "morning" train. Although the train was cancelled because of the rain, Captain Sagara decided to continue on with his plans without the train.

"A friend of mine will be helping me out this time." Captain Sagara answered Takei after he asked what they were to do. "Tell the rest of the Sekihoutai that they are to be at the docks in no more than an hour." With that said, Captain Sagara went off, leaving a very stupefied Takei behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WHAT?! What you mean? You're saying – no way!!" Sano tried to say something sensible but – he had a "bit" of trouble – just a bit. The old man nodded his head once.

Sano jumped up.

"So, is my brother still looking for me?" Sano asked hopefully. With that said, the old man's eyes dimmed a shade darker – showing remorse.

"Sano . . ." the old man began – he didn't know how to put it gently. "Your brother . . . well, thanks to your uncle really, wishes to . . ."

"To what?" Sano asked a tad bit frightened.

"He wishes to kill you."

A pin's dropping on the floor could be heard in the hut. The old man had said the words that would forever engrave themselves in Sano's soul.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Thank you once again Jekoi." Captain Sagara said as he quickly bowed his head once.

"Heh, no problem Captain Sagara! It's the least I could do after you saved my village from those revengeful samurai!" Jekoi, and old man, said as he cracked his back.

"Oh, I ain't what I used to be . . .back then I was young and this old back wouldn't be bothering me. Oh, well. I suppose you probably don't want to hear the grumblings of an old man anyway. Well! The ship's read and it can set sail as soon as you need it to!" Jekoi replied happily. 

"Thank you very much, I'll have the men load up the ship immediately in order to leave." Captain Sagara said as he bowed his head quickly to the old man once more and went on his way.

Once he was outside, Captain Sagara started to take a walk. Had the people of Kyoto seen him they would have thought him a lunatic. Walking outside in the rain these days was death-threatening – with the new threat of pneumonia that is. Captain Sagara continued to walk around the many streets of Kyoto.

~*~Flashback~*~

A young boy grunted as he was thrown into a tree backward from the force of a sword.

"You ain't tough enough and you ain't worthy enough to be called a Cap'n of yer own squad!" A rough voice shouted as the boy slowly got up.

"You haven't defeated me yet! The battle is not over!" The boy yelled with all the strength left in him. He ignored the pain of his shattered bones in his right arm and he ignored the many torn fragments of flesh across his fair skin. He was determined – if this had been a battle of wills the boy would have already won – but it wasn't.

"Ha! Look at you! You can barely stand up! You're in no condition to fight! And either is your right arm – all the bones are shattered! You have nothing left in you to defeat me!" The proud and arrogant man said as he looked as his little opponent. "Well, I think I'll humor you just once! I'll attack you! The one who's left standing is the winner – no questions asked!" The older man said as he got in an offensive position – ready to charge.

The boy got into a weak offensive position as he got ready for the final blow. The other man snorted out of disdain.

"Ready?"

"Ready!" With that said the older man charged at the boy's weak side, his right, as the man expected to make full contact with the boy's frail body and shatter it, and his pride all in one blow. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion for the charging man. He saw the boy drop to one knee. At the same time the boy  threw his sword from his right hand to his left hand. The older man saw all of this, yet he could not dodge at his speed. As the older man neared the boy, he felt a sword stuck into his chest cavity and the feel of the cool metal as it went all the way through him at a slanted line.

The older man fell with a distinct "thud" as the boy got on his unsteady feet.

"How . . .? How  did you?" The older man gasped, blood coming from his mouth as he was choking his last words out – wanting an answer.

"Simple. You underestimated me. I've been practicing the techniques you taught me with both my right and my left hand to perfection." The boy answered as he made an effort to stand just a little more upright than he was at present. The older man looked confused a little moment and then he smiled.

" . . .the last man standing . . .wins. You, boy, have beaten me at my own game. I salute you, _Captain _Sagara. The Sekihoutai are. . . your's . . ." With his last breath, the formal leader of the Sekihoutai died. The young seventeen-year-old new Captain stood there a minute, simply looking at the dead man's body.        

//Someday I'll stop this leader-kills-leader nonsense, but for now . . .I need to get back to my new squad and decide on our next mission. . . //

~*End Flashback~*~

Captain Sagara smiled as he watched a beautiful butterfly spread its wings and try its best to fly against the force of the rain. The butterfly was continually slammed against the ground but in the end it was able to fly toward the sky – it never gave up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before anyone could react, the sounds of many bombs exploding at once was heard all the way to the hut.

"What was that?!" Katsu asked jumping up, completely disregarding the awkward moment. Both Sano and Katsu looked questioningly at the old man. The old man's eyebrows wrinkled up in thought.

"Hurry! You two must get out of here as soon as you can!" The old man said as he quickly got up form his chair and began grabbing some thing for the boys to take with them. The old man then put warm clothes on the two boys before he ushered them out of the hut. Once they were outside, the old man pointed toward a village.

"Look! See that! That's a village where a good friend of mine lives! Just ask to see Seki and they will tell you where he is. Tell him I sent you and he will take good care of you! Now go!" The old man's instructions were quick and to the point. Another bomb exploded – this time much closer. Katsu and Sano got the picture and ran off as fast as they could possibly go toward the village.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            The sea breeze blew toward Takei's face, causing his long beautiful, shiny hair to whip around in many directions. (A/N: Think of Takei as one of those really hot bishies with long hair! ^_^) The ocean's tranquility, as well as its beauty, could overwhelm anyone. Takei scowled. He hated the ocean. There were so many memories that the ocean held for him – most where ones that he wished would drown . . . sort of like . . .

~*~ Flashback~*~

"Big brother!" a little boy laughed as he ran on deck. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten his "sea-legs" yet, so he lost his balance and fell. The older brother laughed.

"Come here, Kiro!" The older brother came to the little boy just as the kid was about to burst into tears. The older boy picked up his little brother and started to swing him around. The little boy forgot his hurt posterior and started laughing as the wind whipped his hair around.

"Big Brother! Big Brother!!" Kiro laughed as the elder boy swung him around.

"Takei! Put your brother down before he gets too dizzy!" said an older man  as he looked at Takei and the laughing little boy. Takei stopped swinging his little brother around.

"Yes father," he said as he put the little boy back on the deck. The little boy fell over again. Takei's father shook his head and laughed before he went below deck. Takei looked at the ocean.

//So calm . . .so peaceful, who would believe that the ocean can take human lives?// Takei thought to himself as he looked out onto the sea, trying to see if he could spot a sea creature of some kind. 

"I wanna see! I wanna see!!" Kiro shouted, knocking Takei out of his thoughts. Takei turned around and looked down at his little brother and smiled.

"Alright, up you go!" Takei said as he grabbed his brother under the arms and hauled him up to the ship's side. He sat his on the edge of the ship but still held onto him, making sure Kiro did not fall off the edge. As he held his baby brother, Takei stared into the distance . . . 

~*~

"Kiro!! Where are you?! KIRO!!" Takei frantically shouted as he ran onto the deck. Truth to be, Takei wasn't really running, he was more slipping on the water that was on the deck and then getting rammed to the side of the boat more than he was running. Takei looked around and spotted his father – also not having any more luck than he was.

"Takei!! Takei!!" his father shouted out as he neared his eldest son. "Be carefull, Takei! This storm is worse than any I have seen so far!! The ocean may appear calm but it also may rise against you!! Just be careful and for all that is good, find your brother! And please . . .don't do anything that you will regret. . . " Takei's father then went stumbling around the deck to look for his youngest son.

 In a last moment of dread, Takei got to the higher side of the ship somehow. And then he saw it. A tiny red bulge in the ocean. 

//Wait . . .Kiro's clothes' color was red . . .KIRO!!// Takei thought. Using his emotions more than his brain, Takei dived off the side of the ship and into the plunged waves beneath. Once he was in the ocean, he tried to swim as fast as he could in order to reach his brother before it was too late.

"Got you!" Takei said as he grabbed Kiro and attempted to drag him back to the ship. But things didn't go according to plan . . .just as Takei was dragging Kiro back to the ship, he was hit with something. That something was large and heavy and Takei later found out that it was an enormous chunk of the mast of the ship that was chopped off by the force of the waves.

            The force of the mast caused Takei to loose a bit of his conscious actions, and in turn, his grip on his little brother. The next thing that Takei thought before he was quickly drowning was

// . . .Father, you said I shouldn't do anything I would regret . . .I do not regret trying to save my little brother. I'm sorry . . .I have failed . . .you . . .//

~*~

"Kid! Hey Kid!! Wake up!!" the sound was unfamiliar and extremely loud to ears that were much clogged by seawater. The next thing Takei knew is that he quickly sat up and hunched over and coughed up all the water that was clogging his lungs.

"Well, I'm glad that you're alive . . .at least one of you are . . ." said a very remorseful sailor. By the looks of him, you could easily tell that the storm had taken it's toll on him as well. Takei regarded the sailor for a long time.

"What . . . what do you mean _one _of us. . .?" Takei asked as he narrowed his eyes, his heart beating to a fast, unheard rhythm. The sailor took his hat off and held it to his chest.

"The news . . .I'm about to tell you . . .is not very . . . pleasant." Takei nodded his head once, signaling the sailor that he was ready to hear whatever news that he could give.

"Your brother . . his body . . .was never recovered. We reckoned he drowned during the storm. As for your father –"

"My father!" Takie interjected. Surely his father is alive! Isn't he? 

"Your father jumped in after you after he saw you dive off the boat. We made an attempt to rescue him but he drowned as well. When we hauled him onboard he was already dead. We're sorry to say that we gave him a funeral and threw him back to the ocean. I'm sorry it has to be this way, but the ship cannot afford to be any heavier." The sailor said with apathy for Takei as he looked to the ground. Suddenly a shout was heard.

"If you will excuse me, I see the wounded need tending to." The sailor said as he got up, put his hat back on and went below deck. Takei remained where he was . . .not moving.

For the next few days Takei didn't eat nor did he sleep. He didn't even move from the spot that he had received the news from . . .

~*~ End Flashback~*~

            Takei continued to stare off into the distance. He watched the waves bob up and down as many seagulls continued to get their food from the plentiful sea. Takei narrowed his eyes.

//I will not let Sanosuke and Katsuhiro die!!//

Thank You To All My Reviewers  -  A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!(And I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!)


	9. Beneath The Surface

**Author's Note:** YAY!! Not only are finals over but it is also the start of the new year!!! ^_^ I'm psyched!! I think this story is actually doing pretty well – I'm developing a plot!!! It's just . . .a little long. But I hope to finish this story within January!! ^_^ Enjoy!!

**Disclaimers:** It is 2004 now and . . .I still don't own Rurouni Kenshin . . . *sigh*

Chapter 9: Beneath The Surface

"Sano – get down!" Katsu yelled at Sano just as he dashed toward his friend and knocked him to the ground. The raucous was unbearable, sounds of explosions probably reached more than a mile a way – one could have thought this had been a war. But no – all this was just to murder two boys, one being the primal target while the other needed to be killed just so he could not talk. This is what it looked like on the surface – but was there more? Could there be an even bigger target than two young boys?

"Come on, Sano! We need to run before they catch up with us!" Katsu yelled over the explosions as he grabbed Sano's arm and jerked him upward. Both of them started running into the dark forest. They ran through endless puddles of mud and ignored the fact that dangerous animals lurked by. Even with the hazards around them, the two boys continued to fight for survival.

"Here! Through the river!" Sano yelled as he spotted a muddied river. Both of the boys dashed into the river and started to run through it. Once they heard that a horseman was near them, both boys crouched into the river – getting themselves covered with mud in the process. They then crouched and crawled over and hid in some bushes. Their camouflage may not have been perfect but the horseman ran right past them.

"Is it safe?" Sano whispered.

"I think so. I don't think he saw us," Katsu whispered back.

"Now where do we go?"

"I . . .don't know," Katsu said as he looked around, hoping to find somewhere they could hide. But even his eyes weren't excellent in this dark forest. "Come on, let's go." Katsu said as he grabbed Sano's arm once again and hauled him to his feet.

"Go where?" Sano asked.

"Somewhere – anywhere! He'll come back! We better relocate!" Katsu said as Sano nodded and both of them ran in the opposite direction of the horseman. They continued to run through mud, smog, and slush of all kind. They ignored the numerous branches that pricked and tore at them. They finally ran into a clear river – or so it looked. Katsu and Sano jumped into the river, trying to masquerade themselves at the same time and wash themselves of all the dirt and hardened mud they had gotten from the other mucky river.

Katsu and Sano then got up from the river and looked around. Both boys heaved a sigh of relief. The explosions sounded further away.

"We're safe," Katsu announced as he looked at a smiling Sano.

"Not quite," a voice behind them said. To make things worse, it started raining again – signaling a storm at sea. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hold the sails!! The rigging is loose – that's what keeps the sails from moving too much!! Someone – anyone, climb that mast and tie that riggings tighter!! We're going to loose the mast if we don't!!" yelled Captain Rukuyuu.

            Takei tried to hold onto the ship, but it kept lurching. He thought he was going to be sick – not because of the lurch- but because of what a sea-storm means to him deep inside. 

"Here! Tell me what exactly to do, Captain Rukuyuu, and I'll climb onto the mast!" Shouted Captain Sagara, since otherwise he could not be heard over the consistent rumbling of the sky and the pouring of the endless rain.

"WHAT?! Are you insane?! You're the Captain of the Sekihoutai – I can't let you do that!! What if something happens to yer? Who's gonna lead the Sekihoutai!" The Captain shouted back.

"If I don't do something I'm going to loose the Sekihoutai and then I'll have no one TO lead!" Captain Sagara shouted back. There was a brief pause as the Captain rethought everything. The Captain sighed as he gave in.

"Alright, then. This is what you have ta do . . ."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next thing Sano and Katsu knew was that they were hit upside the heads with something very heavy. The horseman then took the two boys and put one in front of his saddle and gave the other to his comrade.

"Here, take the little brat. We need to head back to the castle – the master is waiting for us." The other horseman merely nodded before taking off. As the two horsemen continued to gallop back to their castle, Sano opened his eyes only to see the house of the old man, Genki, the one who helped them, to blow up. Sano then went back to drifting into unconsciousness while he was being taken to his new prison.

Of course, it was only later . . .MUCH later did I finally find out that the warriors that were chasing us on horseback were indeed members of the Imperial Government's formal army. . . 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Captain Rukuyuu watched in shock as Sagara quickly and nimbly climbed the mast as if he had been doing so all his life. The mast was quite tall –around 30 meters if not more since it was a very large ship. Once reaching the top, Captain Sagara started to inch his way along the narrow log that extended sideways from the mast, toward the real problem. As Rukuyuu watched in horror as Captain Sagara almost lost his footing and fell. He felt helpless standing on the deck as the other Captain risked his life for the sake of everyone else. Eventually, Sagara reached the rope and managed to secure it, making the sails hold their correct positions and eliminate danger to the mast. After doing so, Sagara slowly but surely climbed down the mast and onto the deck where Rukuyuu was waiting for him.

"Well, I have to say, you proved me wrong – some land Captains CAN really do it all!!" Captain Rukuyuu shouted to Captain Sagara as both of the grabbed onto the closest thing on the ship that would keep them from sliding down the deck and then falling into the ocean. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Oww," Sano groaned as he rubbed the back of his head. He then looked around. The stone walls around him were very bleak-looking, made of some black stone. They went around in a circle – so perhaps he was in one of the towers of some random castle. When Sano looked up he saw a tiny window at the upper part of the tower-thing.

"Awww no . . .not again . . ." Sano groaned. 

"Not again what?" Katsu asked as he finally became conscious and he, too, started to rub the back of his head.

"We were caught by the bad guys, just like we were caught by the pirates. THEN we were placed in some inescapable place. . . I hate this . . ." Sano said as he groaned again at his misfortune. Katsu suddenly smirked.

"Hey, Sano. Maybe you can be a klutz again and fall into a hole which we can use to escape again." Katsu said as he almost burst out laughing. Sano smacked Katsu upside the head.

"That's not funny Katsu!! Stop laughing!!" Sano yelled at his so-called "friend" as Katsu finally burst out laughing . . . again.

"Ok – GENIUS – then how do you think we should get out of here?" Katsu said between laughs.

"I . . .don't know – shouldn't YOU know!" Sano said as he crossed his arms and put his legs in indian-style. Katsu started to look around. Then he looked up.

"Well . . .we COULD climb up you know."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Takei!!" Captain Sagara yelled as he was searching for him. He finally found Takei trying to hold on for dear life.

"Takei! Can you hear me?" Captain Sagara yelled over. Takei, on the other hand was busy trying to keep himself from sliding into the water. Takei had got himself in one hell of a tangle – thanks to the many loose ends of rope that had been moved around everywhere because of the storm.

"Yes, I can hear you just fine!! I'm just a little preoccupied at the minute!" Takei shouted as he "attempted" to untie himself – only to further the tangles. Captain Sagara couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. This earned him a glare from Takei.

"Here! Let me help you, Takei!" Captain Sagara said as he tried to make his way toward Takei, only to have the ship tilt. Unfortunately, this caused Captain Sagara to body slam into Takei with an indestructible speed.

"Yes, that did a lot of help. Not only am I in a tangled web of ropes, but now I have at least four or five broken ribs." Takei said sarcastically as Captain Sagara got off him.

"Sorry about that, Takei. But I can't really control what the storm does." Captain Sagara said as he tried to stand up, but then ended up crouching instead. "But I _can_ help you get rid of those ropes." Captain Sagara then took his dagger from his belt and started to cut though all the ropes that were holding Takei in a tangle.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"No, Sano!! Look, for the last time – put your feet on that end of the tower and I put my feet on the opposite side. THEN we hold our hands palm to palm and THEN we try to climb up the tower going one foot up at a time!! And when I say RIGHT foot lift your RIGHT foot up – not your LEFT!!" Katsu yelled at a stupefied Sano – who was . . .just not getting it.

"Ok, my right, right?" Sano said as he and Katsu attempted to do the same maneuver again. The tower was just small enough for the two of them to perfect this – it was not very wide. 

"Ready NOW, Sano?!"

"Ready!"

"Right-foot! Left Foot! Right-foot! Left Foot! Right-foot! Left Foot! " Eventually Sano and Katsu somehow managed to reach the top of the tower.

"Ok, Sano, since you're taller, try to look through the window that's closer to you." Katsu said.

"What window?"

"The one behind you, IDIOT!!"

"OOOH that window!" Sano said as he finally realized what Katsu was talking about. Katsu gave a sigh. Sano couldn't be THAT stupid . . . or could he . . .?

"Umm Katsu? It' kind hard to crane my neck like that." Sano whined as he tried to look back at the window – all he got in response was Katsu's growl.

"SANO!!" Katsu yelled. "Ok LOOK! I'm gonna turn around to my left –"

"Is that my left, too?" Sano asked.

"Yes! And then we'll end up being back to back, ok?"

"Ok . . ."

"And then I'm going to push toward you and kinda lift you toward the window so that you can see outside ok??"

"Gotcha!" Sano said triumphantly. (A/N: Has anyone seen "The Emperor's New Groove"? This is kinda what the llama and Pacha did. ^_^)

"Ok, let's go." Katsu said as both of them slowly turned around. Once they were back to back, Katsu started pushing Sano closer to the window. Katsu and Sano were linking arms while they were back to back. Katsu was fully stretched out while Sano was more crouching from the side of the tower. This way, Sano was able to get a better look out of the window.

"Ok, Katsu! Just a little more and I can see!!" Sano shouted over as Katsu pushed Sano a little closer to the window.

"Ok!! I can see now!" Sano yelled.

"Great – now tell me WHAT you see!"

"Ok! Ummm we're REALLY high up, so basically if we go out the window we're most likely gonna fall to our grizzly deaths and we're probably gonna end up breaking every bone in our bodies!" Sano told Katsu.

"Sano?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have to say it with such enthusiasm?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Captain Sagara finally managed to cut all of Takei's ropes from around him. As soon as he did so, Takei stood up and was . . .quite surprised that he still could move his legs. It felt like the ropes had cut off all of his blood circulation off.

"Ok, I've rounded most of the Sekihoutai below deck. Takei, could you please try to look around and see if you can spot any more and bring them below deck?" Captain Sagara yelled over to Takei.

"Sure, no problem. I'll be down there in a minute with any other members I can find!' Takei shouted back.

"Thank you – and be careful!" Captain Sagara said to Takei as he briefly put his hand on Takei's shoulder before heading to the opposite side of the ship to look for other members. Takei grabbed onto the side of the ship before he could be pushed over the side and fall into the ocean. Just as Takei was looking down into the sea, he saw a certain purple lump floating.

"SHIRO!!" Takei shouted down as he spotted one of the youngest Sekihoutai members. Shiro was like a little brother to Takei and his loyalty to Takei was priceless. Without having any second thoughts, Takei climbed onto the side of the ship and dove into the water after his ally.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Wow, I can't believe we climbed all the way up there!" Sano said as he looked toward the top of the tower. Sano and Katsu had both used the same right foot/ left foot technique to get down as well.

"Yeah, it is hard to believe . . .me working together with an idiot." Katsu answered.

"Yeah . . .wait! Katsu!!" Sano said as he gave Katsu another "death-glare," which only made Katsu start to laugh again. Another explosion sounded off somewhere in the castle which caused Sano and Katsu to jump. Then a rumbling noise started to sound somewhere in the hallway – and it was getting closer.

"MOVE, you idiot!" Katsu said as he grabbed Sano's arm and moved him away from the door. Just in time, too, since the door toppled over. Katsu and Sano looked at each other.

"Let's go!" they both yelled in unison as they dashed out of their prison hole. It was amazing how filled with smoke the corridors were. It was times like these that Katsu and Sano were thankful that they weren't tall because if they were then they wouldn't be able to breathe.

"Which corridor do we take?" Sano shouted over to Katsu in the fog. Katsu, who had grabbed onto Sano's shirt so that the both of them wouldn't be separated, coughed before trying to talk.

"Let's try the right one!" Katsu shouted as Sano went toward the right corridor as Katsu followed behind, still holding onto Sano's shirt. There was no telling how many corridors the castle contained or how many times they had almost ran into a guard. Both of the boys finally ran into something . . .or rather, somebody. Katsu and Sano both looked up. The "somebody" was full-grown teenage boy. He was rather tall as well as lean. He was dressed in very fine samurai clothes – signaling his high birth. He also had dark jade eyes and long beautiful brown hair – a regular "pretty-boy." His facial features kind of looked familiar to both Katsu and Sano.

"Who . . .are you?" Katsu asked. Sano couldn't help it but . . .he thought he somehow knew those emerald eyes. It was as if he had seen them somewhere . . .in a dream maybe?

"My name is Seth. I'm the son of Sakura and Taihito."

HEHE!!! YAY!! I'm finished!! A very long chapter indeed!! A full EIGHT pages!! ^_~ Don't worry about the pretty cliffhanger I left there . . .I'll update soon!! And YES Seth is Sano's elder brother!! *scary music* Dun dun DUN!!!

**Thank you to the following reviewers!! And a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!**


	10. The End is Near

**Author's Note:** Heh. Haven't been able to update in a loooong time. School, basketball and a migraine that just won't go away . . .Oh well. I hope to continue and finally finish this story relatively soon. Thank you to all the people who continued to review my fic!! Enjoy! ^_^ 

**Disclaimers: **Yeah, yeah,I don't own Rurouni Kenshin and blah blah blah. ^_~

Chapter 10: The End Is Near

** RECAP:**

Just as Takei was looking down into the sea, he saw a certain purple lump floating.

"SHIRO!!" Takei shouted down as he spotted one of the youngest Sekihoutai members. Shiro was like a little brother to Takei and his loyalty to Takei was priceless. Without having any second thoughts, Takei climbed onto the side of the ship and dove into the water after his ally.

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Takei may have been a land soldier but he was mostly brought up near the sea which is the reason that Takei was such a good swimmer. But even he could not swim against the force of the storm. If he thought that the waves lurched horribly above surface, then these underwater waves were almost intolerable. The pressure of the water against his head caused his vision as well as his thoughts to impair. Takei could no longer see anything clearly through the water, all he could see were endless depths of black.

            Had Takei been able to shout for Shiro, then he would have. But he could no longer see Shiro, let alone find and drag him to safety. Suddenly, Takei's eyes snapped open and he swam upward as fast as he could, realizing that his air supply was almost gone. Takei was only able to take a quick breath because then he was pulled under the water . . .as was the purple lump, which was his ally. Swimming against the force and pressure of the water, Takei managed to get to Shiro and grab him. But even so, every time Takei tried to swim to the top, the force of the water and the storm would pull him back down again. Seldom did Takei successfully reach the top of the water for a breath.

            Suddenly, the currents in the water got stronger and Takei suddenly felt himself and Shiro being pulled downward. Takei was still holding onto Shiro as strongly as he could. He felt himself slamming into endless rocks and maybe even underwater mountains, sometimes he feared that his head would be split open. Takei could not longer see the surface of the water and he no longer even knew which way was up and which was down. Takei closed his eyes to avoid getting even dizzier.

"Takei . . ." Takei snapped his eyes open as he heard a familiar voice call out his name.

//That voice? It couldn't be . . .could it? I'm underwater . . .no one can speak 

underwater. . . .// were Takei's only thoughts, yet he still tried to locate the owner of the voice. Suddenly a face appeared before Takei.

"Hey Big Brother!! Kiro here to help!!" a little boy laughed gleefully before swimming backward from Takei a little bit. Takei was frozen, he simply stared at the little boy. Then Takei noticed that the little boy was floating in the water just as he was. His clothes were swaying gracefully with the water's movements. Except . . .Kiro was still breathing normally. It was then Takei noticed that the boy was engulfed in a blue aura.

//A ghost . . .// Takei thought as he continued to stare at the boy.

"That's right. I'm a ghost!" Kiro simply stated.

//Wait . . .he can read my mind?!" Takei thought in a small alarm.

"Yes, talking in your mind is the only way you can talk to me . . .since you are underwater! I'm here to help you Big Brother!!" Kiro said enthusiastically.

//Kiro! It's very good to see you again . . .even as a ghost!// Takei thought happily.

"I'm really happy to see you, too!! I also came so that I can help you!! But we have to go now, Takei!! You're friend is gonna die if you don't get him some air!" Kiro said as Takei laughed in his mind.

//Alright, little brother, I give in, you win. Lead the way.// Takei thought as he looked at the little boy. Kiro gave a giggle of happiness.

"Follow me!" Kiro said as he started to swim left . Takei followed Kiro. As he was following Kiro, Takie realized how far he was from being anywhere noticeable because of all the little caves and what-not he had to go through as he followed Kiro. 

"Come on, it's just a little further!" Kiro said as he looked back at Takei before continuing to swim through the cave. After Takei swam though the cave he appeared in an "open space" under the ocean. Takei looked up and almost choked. He was a good 200 feet from the surface of the ocean. Kiro swam behind Takei.

"I help!" He simply stated, as he grabbed onto the cloth that was over Takei's shoulders. Takei felt and saw himself being engulfed by the blue aura of Kiro before Kiro giggled and started to effortlessly pull Takei toward the surface of the water. After Takei was about only ten feet away from the surface of the water, Kiro let go and the blue aura that was around Takei went away. Takei looked back at his little brother as he continued to float up.

"See?! I helped my Big Brother!!" Kiro said gleefully.

//Thank you, Kiro.// Takei thought as he watched his little brother start to disappear.

"I will always be in the ocean if you ever need my help!! But don't drown again, k?" Kiro said as he waved good-bye to his big brother before disappearing. Takei waved back before he was hurtled toward the surface of the ocean. Takei finally broke the surface of the water and after a long while, breathed.

        ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

** RECAP:**

Both of the boys finally ran into something . . .or rather, somebody. Katsu and Sano both looked up. The "somebody" was full-grown teenage boy. He was rather tall as well as lean. He was dressed in very fine samurai clothes – signaling his high birth. He also had dark jade eyes and long beautiful brown hair – a regular "pretty-boy." His facial features kind of looked familiar to both Katsu and Sano.

"Who . . .are you?" Katsu asked. Sano couldn't help it but . . .he thought he somehow knew those emerald eyes. It was as if he had seen them somewhere . . .in a dream maybe?

"My name is Seth. I'm the son of Sakura and Taihito."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_I remember looking up at the eyes of Seth. My _brother,_ the one who wanted to _kill _me. _

_But . . . when I looked at those eyes, I didn't see the eyes of a killer. I saw the eyes of someone who was mislead to believe one thing and then felt guilty for his actions on that belief . . ._

"S-seth? You mean YOU'RE my brother?! The one who's trying to kill me?! " Sano shouted at the boy, his fists already clenched. Seth looked at Sano for a minute before smiling a sympathetic smile. Seth bent down to one knee in front of Sano and put both of his hands on Sano's shoulders. That way, Seth and Sano were eye to eye.

"Little brother, I have no intention of killing you . . .or harming you for that matter."

"W-what? You're lying!!" Sano shouted back at Seth. Seth slowly shook his head.

"I was . . .mislead by your – our – uncle, Takenaka," said as he continued to smile at Sano with sympathy.

"What . . .do you mean?" Sano asked, now with his guard down and truly curious.

"Takenaka had planned to take over our father's land because it was given to Taihito by our grandfather. Taihito was a better man than Takenaka would ever be and the oracle said the same thing, even though Taihito was the younger. Takenaka became even more twisted and started planning our father's demise even as a young boy. He was overjoyed to find that Taihito, our father, had two sons: Me, the eldest and you the youngest. The oracle said the same thing over again – you would get the most inheritance even though you were the youngest. I . . .really didn't mind since I got a good forty acres of land as well as some heirlooms – that was enough for me. But . . .our uncle wasn't happy with my satisfaction. Back then I was young and pugnacious . . .easily lead in either direction by strong words. It was our uncle's words that drove me to hate you for the while that I did. Yes, I DID do all those things, such as ordering ninjas to do some undercover things."

"So if you're not the one who'd trying to kill me – then why was I and Katsu imprisoned here?!" Sano asked with new rage building.

"Takenaka sent over assassins to my own castle, here, in order to finish me off. I hid while he took over and gave all my soldiers commands, telling them that I was ill and could not be there. They were sent to catch you and your friend and then to be later killed. Takenaka hoped to kill us both off, since then he would be the next to inherit everything our father had."

"So . . .then, what now?" Sano asked.

"What now? Simple. I'm going to show you a way out of here in order to escape this place." Seth said as he stood up again. "I suggest you follow me since the corridors of this castle are extremely complicated."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Takei smelled the sea before he could see it. He slowly and cautiously opened his eyes. He looked out into the ocean. It was much calmer than before – the waves didn't seem so hostile. Takei opened his eyes fully and moved his head in order to see around him. The ship didn't look any worse for wear. Although the ship was covered with scratches and a few chinks in the wood and a few holes in the sails – it was in excellent condition, considering it had just been through the worst storm possibly imagined.

"Hey, there. Nice to see that you're finally awake, Takei." Takei looked up as soon as he heard the familiar voice.

"Captain Sagara . . ."

"Don't worry about anything. The storm is over and you need your rest now. Shiro is fine. He got banged up pretty badly – but nothing serious. You need your rest, sleep now." Takei didn't need to be told twice, the graceful wisps of sleep gladly enfolded him.

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Sano didn't know what else to do. He followed his brother. He followed his brother through a castle that his brother knew well. He was basically at the mercy of his so-called cold, blood-thirsty brother. Seth calmly and gracefully walked through the castle corridors with no more than a every-day air. The explosions that happened in and around the castle seemed to have no effect on Seth whatsoever. Seth suddenly came upon a tapestry. He pulled it back a bit in order to reveal . . .a door.

"Here, this is it." Seth said as he opened the much-rusted door. "Sano," Seth said as he looked down on his little brother. "Go through this door and all the way to the end of the corridor. At the end, there is another door, go through it and you will end up outside. Once you are outside, you can go to wherever you were trying to go before you were captured." Sano looked at the door for a minute.

"Aren't . . . Aren't you coming?" Sano asked.

"I . . .can not. You and your friend will have to go alone." Seth said regrettably as he looked back . . .somewhere.

"But – here. Take this before you go. Don't open it until you are ready." Seth said as he supplied Sano with a sealed scroll. (A/N: Wow, try saying that three times in a row!! ^_^)

"Ok, then –I'll see you later?" Sano said hopefully as he took the scroll. Seth gave a small laugh.

"Maybe someday, sure – why not?" Seth smiled at Sano. Sano smiled back before getting ready to go through the door.

"Good bye . . .Big Brother." Sano said as he and Katsu went through the door.

"Good bye."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What the hell is going on here?!" Captain Rukuyuu yelled as he looked out from where the ship was docked. "Why, that castle is so blown up it looks like a damn Chinese firecracker!"

"Yes, I do agree." Said Takei as he looked out into the horizon. The castle, clearly visible by now.

"That place must be where Sanosuke and Katsuhiro are. I believe it belonged to Sano's brother." Captain Sagara answered as he stepped out onto the deck.

"Sano's . . ._brother_?!" Takei asked.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"It was sure dark in there!" Sano remarked as he and Katsu finally emerged from the castle, using the way that Seth had told them to use.

"Yeah, but it got us out, didn't it?" Katsu said as grabbed Sano by the arm and started to drag him away from the crumbling castle.

"Wait, Katsu! What about my brother?!" Sano asked, pulling his arm from Katsu's grasp.

"He said to go, right? So we need to go!!" Katsu said before he tried to grab Sano' arm again, but Sano stubbornly refused.

"We need to –" Sano began before a series of explosions erupted and flung the two of them against some flat rocks. As Sano looked up he saw the figure of his brother standing by a tall window in one of the castle rooms . . . and his brother was smiling down at him as Seth saw that Sano was still alive . The last thing Sano saw before he passed was the castle exploding, and his brother . . .with it.

Yeah, I'm making this story sadder and sadder . . .maybe I should change the categories from Action/Adventure and General to Action/Adventure and Angst? Yeah, that's what I'm probably gonna do. L Hope you enjoy that little cliffhanger there. I'm really beginning to like cliffhangers. . .

**Thank you to my reviewers.  **


	11. Famous Situations

Author's Note: I finally started to write because I feel bad for not updating in so long. It's summer and well . . .I just felt reaaaallly lazy and I didn't feel like THINKING. I don't know if I'm gonna update this story much because it takes time for me to get inspired – and the fact that it's summer and I am FREE from thinking. I will try to finish it this summer because I want to start on the fics that have been floating through my head for a while. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.   
  
Disclaimer: Please don't make me pay a fine, I know this story isn't mine.  
  
**Chapter 11:** Famous Situations

"WHAT?!" How come?! That's not fair!! I'm fine – really!!" Sano shouted in defiance.  
  
"Look, Sano, I know you want to go on this mission – but you're just not well enough. The burns you got while trying to run into the castle's fire need more time to heal than a few days –"  
  
"But it's been a week and a half!! And I can get up!!" Sano got up effortlessly, but then quickly collapsed because all the burns he had felt like a fire that blazed through his whole body.  
  
"I think I've made my point. Katsu, I and most of the Sekihoutai will go ahead with the mission – we will leave three behind to make sure that there is no other strange activities going on around here. You will stay with them. And that's final." Takei said before he left.  
  
_I remember looking down at my bandages. The bandages that cover up half of my stomach are from the burns. After I saw my brother die, I did collapse and I don't remember anything I did. But according to Katsu, I got up and tried to run back into the castle, all the while shouting for my brother. It was Takei who finally got there in time to pull me out before I burned myself to death. Somehow, he got less injured than I did. As for where the other half of the bandages came from? That's another story . . ._  
  
"They don't know what they're talking about . . .I'm fine and completely healed!" Sano shouted to no one in particular. He tried to get up, but ended up falling flat on his face on the floor anyway. Being hard-headed as he was, Sano got up again and started to put on the rest of his clothes.  
  
"Better take this with me," Sano said as he grabbed a gun and started to slowly walk out of his door and hopefully through the hotel without being noticed and then follow the rest of the Sekihoutai to where the action was.  
  
"Are you sure we couldn't have taken Sano with us? I mean . . .I know he was injured and all but he really wanted to go!" Katsu continued to complain. Takei rubbed his cheekbones. I used to tolerate Katsu, but now he's beginning to be a pain like that annoying Sanosuke kid . . .oh my head . . .Takei continued to think.  
  
"Look, Katsu, I've ALREADY told you! Those burns don't heal in a day!"  
  
". . .but it's been a week . . ." Katsu started – before Takei gave him a death glare.  
  
"Erm – point taken!" Katsu said as he smiled and put his hands outwardly in front of his chest as if surrendering to the Takei death glare (©).  
  
Sano imagined his own theme music as he gracefully and quietly maneuvered through the corridors. Well . . .to be honest he was a slow clutz. But since most of the men in the hotel, including some of the Sekihoutai officers, were drunk off their ass, they didn't notice a certain, slow-moving, white lump dashing around. As for Sano? He was too stupid to realize that the mens' drunkenness was to his advantage.  
  
HA! If only Katsu could see this!! I'm totally invisible!!Sano thought happily as he finally got through the hotel and to the back door.  
  
So long, suckers!!Sano thought happily as he went through the back door and into the night. Unfortunately, being such a inattentive, impulse- driven person, Sano stopped right where he stood outside the hotel as he realized a very important fact –  
  
"Oh, crap! I don't know where they were going! Oh, man . . ." Sano whined.  
  
After standing there for almost a good half-hour, Sano finally remembered something.  
  
_"Katsu, tell the other men that we will be going to Niigata Forest, east of the hotel."_  
  
"Oh yeah!" Sano shouted to the world, "I remember now! They said that they were going to that forest east of here!! Let's see . . .east is – to the right! Yes! Now I have a direction!" Sano announced happily as he started to stride east.  
  
"Oh crap . . .I think I'm lost . . ." Sano whined to no one in particular. He continued to wander around the forest. Actually, the "forest" looked like a cross between a jungle and a swamp – not exactly a nice place to get lost in. Suddenly, Sano started to hear something in the distance. The closer it got, the closer Sano began to recognize what it was.  
  
"Not now!! A horseman! The last thing I need!" Sano shouted into the night as he started running as fast as he could.  
  
"Where to hide! Where to hide!" Sano shouted before he spotted a cluster of bushes and hid there – for the time being anyway. The sounded of the horse's hoof beating on the ground came closer. After a while the beating of the ground came exceedingly close before receding into the distance. After the rumble stopped, Sano cautiously came out from the bushes.  
  
"There he is!! The perpetrator!" A horseman behind him shouted as he pointed to Sano.  
  
"Oh no! There must have been two of them! One must have gone while the other stayed behind!! Why am I so unlucky?!" Sano complained before he started running again. After all, if he had stayed behind he would have probably ended up being sliced and diced.  
  
However, no matter how fast a human is, no one is able to beat the speed of one on a horse. To make matter worse, Sano tripped over a root and fell flat on his face. He turned around while he still sat on the ground and looked the horseman. The horseman's horse reared into the air as he raised his sword and got ready to strike Sano.  
  
_I remember I closed my eyes for an instant, thinking "Great, now look what I've gotten myself into". I thought that I was going to die once and for all. But some patterns never change. My pattern of getting myself into dangerous situations and then getting out of them has still stayed with me till this day . . ._  
  
Sano's eyes remained tightly clenched. The next thing he heard was the sound of a sharp weapon slicing and dicing through a body. This creepily crunching and liquefied sound was quickly followed by a large thump – presumably the sliced body, probably the horseman, still on his horse, from the magnitude of the sound. Sano slowly opened both eyes to see that his rescuer was the last person he had expected to see.  
  
"So, we meet again. Try not to get in my way." Sano's long, red-headed rescuer said as he narrowed his gleaming purple eyes at Sano. The Battousai smirked at Sano's wide-eyed reaction.  
  
"Nice to see you too, Sano." He said before he left the dumbfounded Sano still sitting on the ground. In instant he was gone and all that was left was the corpse of a horseman attached to the horse.  
  
"Ok, I'm gonna do it. No wait . . .It's disgusting . . .NO! I've gotta do it!" Sano kept arguing with himself. He finally started to inch his way towards the dead swordsman. Somewhere in the process of trying to run for his life, Sano had ended up loosing his gun. Now he was weaponless and . . . helpless. Taking the swordsman's sword was Sano's only option in order to get hold of a weapon. Sano succeeded on grabbing the blade of the sword and he continued to pull it away from the swordsman. When the sword did not come willingly from the strong grip of the swordsman, Sano used all of his strength and yanked it from the swordsman – taking the swordsman's arm with the sword.  
  
Sano gagged and held his mouth from hurling as he jumped backwards away from the gruesome sight. After fifteen minutes of looking at the bloody horror, Sano decided to try to get the sword again. Sano once again inched himself toward the swordsman. Sano started to unwrap the swordsman's fingers from their firm grip on the hilt. After unwrapping five, cold and lifeless fingers, Sano finally succeeded in gripping the sword and backing away from the swordsman as far as possible. Sano continued to run through the forest, searching for any familiar Sekihoutai member – hopefully Katsu.  
  
The footsteps of two separate people echoed though the woods. The eerie silence of the forest was finally shattered. The whole forest heard the sound of two big lumps as they collided into each other and tumbled to the ground.  
  
"WHAT THE —" One lump yelled at the other lump. This lumps' gun was ready to fire at any minute if the other lump was an enemy.  
  
"Wait, is that Sano?" The lump with a gun finally recognized the mound of white which was busy try to gets his butt off the ground. Sano finally looked up.  
  
"Katsu?! I can't believe I finally found you!"  
  
"I was about to KILL you! Can't you be more careful?!" Katsu yelled down at Sano.  
  
"Sheesh, can't you ever relax?" Sano asked Katsu as he got up and brushed his butt off. He them looked around for his sword and ended up finding it stuck into a tree. With a few pulls, Sano finally got the sword out of the tree.  
  
"So you really did get out of the hotel? How did you manage?" Katsu asked with curiosity. Sano smirked, ready to tell his story of bravery, but a certain galloping noise stopped him. Sano's eyes widened.  
  
"Oh crap! Come on Katsu! We gotta get outta here!" Sano yelled at him as he grabbed Katsu's arm and started running the other direction.  
  
"Sano, what's going on?!"  
  
"Let's just say I had a run-in with these guys before and I almost got killed . . .again!"  
  
Sano and Katsu ran as quickly as they could and they ended up hiding in a very large bush. Both boys say the horseman ride off into the distance. Remembering what happened to him last time, Sano start to turn around in the bush and move through it to the other direction. Both boys finally got through the immensely large bush and ended up in a clearing.  
  
"Phew, I thought we'd never escape that." Sano sighed.  
  
"Yeah, I was running away from those horsemen before I bumped into you." Katsu said before both boys looked at each other and both started to laugh.  
  
"Please, let me in on the joke. I'd love to know what's so funny." Katsu and Sano froze. They slowly looked up and their eyes locked on one of the brawniest men they had seen in their lives. He was around six-foot-five and had a disheveled mop of black hair. He was also covered in some of the ugliest scars a person could have. That worst part was he was accompanied by four other men, shorter by a foot than their leader, but still just as brawny and just as ugly.  
  
"I think I will enjoy killing you little runts." The brawny leader said to his fellow friends as they laughed at his sadistic joke. Katsu and Sano exchanged quick glanced before Katsu stuck the butt of his gun into the man's ribs and Sano did the same with the hilt of his sword. After this sudden attack, the boys ran off like the wind while the brawny leader hunched over. However, his men were more than eager to fight as they ran after the two boys. One of them finally caught up to Katsu.  
  
"You're really ichin' for a fight a'n't you little brat?!" Katsu dangled helplessly while the man's grip around his neck tightened. Sano stopped running and instantly came back to help his friend.  
  
"Let him go!!" Sano shouted as he took the sword and whacked it with all his strength into the man's arms. The sword barely made a fair-sized dent in the man's arm but the man release Katsu. Katsu quickly grabbed his gun and started to run off with Sano. The five men may have been extremely muscular and strong, but when it came to running, the men couldn't compete with slender boys, partially because alone all their muscle could have weighed around seventy pounds and that's a lot of extra weight to run with.  
  
Unfortunately, the boys may have escaped but since they were running in a straight line they had escaped right to a dead end. A cliff. There were two choices: Go fight the men and most likely get killed, or fall down the immense depths of the cliff and die.  
  
"So . . .Katsu, any bright ideas?" Sano asked nervously as both he and Katsu looked behind them at the black depth of a cliff and in front of them at the five enormous angry men charging at them.  
  
"I guess I got myself into another of my famous situations . . ." BUWAHAHAAHA!!! And I have ended with one of my famous cliff hangers! Except this time it was a REAL cliff hanger!! Get it?! Sano and Katsu are at the edge of a cliff? Cliff-hanger? Get it?! No? Oh well. GRRR!!! I REALLY hate this formating, does anyone know how to make BIG spaces?? I suppose most of you are probably really mad at me right now . . . I promise I shall try to write the next chapter as soon as I can. Thank you to all who review!! Have a great summer!!


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